


not to plan

by agni_kai



Series: Kinktober 2020 [15]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Porn, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Bottom Zuko (Avatar), Come Marking, Dom Sokka (Avatar), Dom Zuko (Avatar), Established Relationship, Fluff and Smut, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Honest, Kinktober, Kinktober 2020, Light Bondage, Light Choking, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Minor Bato/Hakoda (Avatar), Minor Piandao/Jeong Jeong (Avatar), Multiple Orgasms, Pet Names, Porn Star Sokka (Avatar), Porn Star Zuko (Avatar), Praise Kink, Roleplay, Rough Sex, Sex Work, Sexual Roleplay, Sub Sokka (Avatar), Sub Zuko (Avatar), Top Sokka (Avatar), and instead did, are you ready for the kink tags, despite all the porn tags this is very soft and domestic, hey you lot come get your 30k porn one-shots, i am crying at still tagging these with 2020 when it's 2021 but, letting them be a lil switchy as a treat, the prompt was prostitution but i looked at hired and said no
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:22:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29433816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agni_kai/pseuds/agni_kai
Summary: Day 15:ProstitutionSex work|Armpit|MassageIt's been four long, sappy, glorious months of dating Zuko, and Sokka has fallenhard."I just want to talk about you, y'know? I just want to be able to saylook at how fucking adorable my boyfriend is, I love him so much, he's the bestand not just message it privately to Suki every time, I think she's getting kinda sick of us already-"
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Kinktober 2020 [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950004
Comments: 77
Kudos: 271
Collections: Kinktober 2020





	not to plan

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day, come get y'all's porn <3  
>   
> Not deliberate timing, but here it is anyway! This was absolutely never intended to go over 10k, and yet here we are.  
>   
> It's very important to me that you all know that Sokka's jock aesthetic is based almost entirely on [this art](https://twitter.com/dickpunchernsfw/status/1353202927033180163) by the fantastic [dickpuncher420,](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dickpuncher420/pseuds/dickpuncher420) forever grateful for permission to point at it excitedly and go _this! this sokka! it's him!_  
>   
>  (Quick note that the scene Sokka and Zuko play out in the last third or so of this fic is that ol' mainstay of the porn genre, seduction. Aka cheating. It's very very obvious that it's a roleplayed scene and not actual romanticisation of cheaters - don't cheat, folks, it's gross - but if you're sensitive to that sort of thing, maybe tap out before the end. There's plenty of warning that it's coming up.)

Every morning at 06:30, an alarm goes off on Sokka's phone and doesn't turn off until he sends Zuko a good-morning text. It's pretty much the only way to keep him awake long enough to compose a coherent message. Sokka prides himself on switching up the phrasing each day - no boring boilerplate here.  
  
_good morning sunshine <3_  
  
Yeah, he hasn't used that one in a while.  
  
Sokka drops his phone onto the bedside table and buries his face back in his pillows. Zuko has a scarily consistent morning routine - he'll see Sokka's message before he starts his morning workout and he'll reply once he’s finished meditating, which means Sokka gets to have a good hour to ninety minutes of dozing before Zuko is done and ready to carry on an actual conversation with no interruptions. That's the point at which Sokka will begin to peel himself out of bed - spirits, his boyfriend is making him a morning person, he's naturally waking up before 8 am even without any alarms these days - so he can make coffee and chat to Zuko as his brain begins to wake up.  
  
\---  
  
_Morning <3_ _  
  
good workout?_  
  
They have to start simple or Sokka's brain will start malfunctioning. He hasn't inhaled his coffee yet.  
  
_Pretty good  
That tip you gave me last time seems to be working  
  
i gave u the tip huh  
  
Sokka  
  
baby  
u working today?  
  
Yeah, got a shoot down at the other end of the city  
It's a guy I haven't worked with before but it's pretty basic and I know the studio well so  
Oh shit  
_  
Zuko does _not_ usually do non-sequiturs over text.  
  
"You didn't need to call me," Zuko says as he picks up, but Sokka melts a little bit at how fond he sounds.  
  
"I know, but I wanted to. What's shit?" He can hear Zuko fumbling with his phone, then he evidently puts it on speaker.  
  
"I forgot to make lunch last night is all, and I don't have time now before I have to run. And the studio is in the middle of some fucking industrial park, so there isn't anywhere to grab lunch within walking distance, so I'm going to have to get on the bus smelling like sex to get food. Which is gross." Zuko is clattering plates in the background, clearly doing a coffee-and-toast speedrun before he has to dash.  
  
Sokka had asked him once whether he'd ever wanted to learn to drive, but a vague gesture at his face - more specifically his left eye, slightly clouded and never quite focusing properly - and a _doesn't feel safe_ had answered that one. Public transport it was, then.  
  
"I can bring you lunch, if you don't mind me walking into the middle of your shoot."  
  
"You don't have to-"  
  
"I _want_ to. I wanna do nice things for my boyfriend. I haven't got anything to do today anyway - if people don't mind me hanging around, I can find a quiet corner and get some work done, then we can head off once you're done?"  
  
He'd quit his day job after a couple of months, once he knew he could actually make it in the industry, but he still does a bunch of freelance coding stuff on the side to pay the bills. Suki had explained back in the day that it was practically impossible to make a living in adult work unless you were a big name with brand deals or did something like escorting on the side, and Sokka didn't see the point in branching out when the work he'd already trained to do was so easy to do freelance. He'd asked Zuko once how he made ends meet, even without a lavish lifestyle, and had got a shrug and a slightly embarrassed _trust fund kid_ which...yeah, that tracked with what he knew about Zuko's family. He still thinks Zuko could make a fortune with brand deals though. Maybe he should bring that up at some point.  
  
Zuko's keys are jangling on the other end of the line, and Sokka can hear him click off speaker and onto a normal call as the door slams shut. "I'll have to check with people if you can come in and wait for me to be done or if you'll have to wait outside, but honestly, if you can bring me lunch, _lifesaver_."  
  
Oh look, he's got Zuko to agree to receive a favour with only minimal arguing. Significant progress.  
  
"Sure thing, baby. Text me the address and let me know if I'm allowed in. Is there going to be parking?"  
  
"I think so? If there isn't, you can just pick me up and we can go eat in the park or something."  
  
Zuko isn't built for the cold and will bitch endlessly about sitting in an autumnal park to eat lunch, but it means that Sokka will get to bundle him up in his parka and hold his hands to keep them warm, so it seems like a fair trade.  
  
"If I can't wait for you this afternoon, it's fine, I'll just go find a coffee shop or something to work from. No hassle, we'll figure it out."  
  
"Speaking of coffee shops, I forgot to tell you yesterday-" There's a muffled tannoy in the background, and Sokka takes a moment to be surprised that he's already reached the bus stop - but then, for all that Zuko is significantly shorter than he is, he's approximately 85% leg and an unexpectedly fast walker. "So I go up to the counter and order, the barista doesn't even look up, just says something about my voice sounding familiar, am I a regular-"  
  
"You do have a very sexy voice," Sokka says affectionately, draining his coffee and reaching for the pot to pour a second. "Don't blame them for recognising it."  
  
Spirits, he can _hear_ Zuko's blush through the phone. His boyfriend is fucking _precious_.  
  
"And they look up and go bright red, it's kind of awkward? And then they just go ahead and write my name on the cup _without asking for it_."  
  
"Oops."  
  
"And then realise what they've done and ask for my name anyway, even though I can clearly see that they've already written it because the cup is _see-through_ -"  
  
"They were just so _starstruck_ , sweetheart, they just met a celebrity, what do you expect?"  
  
Zuko laughs - almost a giggle, the one he does when Sokka catches him off-guard - and being alone in his kitchen means that Sokka doesn't even have to _attempt_ to hide his obnoxiously sappy smile at the sound of it.  
  
"And now I'm getting side-eye from a random guy at the bus stop," he says in a low tone, and Sokka snorts.  
  
"You haven't even mentioned what you do for work. If he recognises you, that's on him."  
  
"Ha. Fair. Anyone at your work brought it up yet?"  
  
Sokka had given friends and family a heads-up that he was going to be heading back into the industry, and he doesn't lie about it if someone asks, but he doesn't exactly go out of his way to tell random coworkers at a two-week part-time temp gig that they might recognise him from porn.  
  
"There's definitely one guy who keeps looking at me and pretending that he isn't staring, but I can't decide if he actually knows who I am or if he just thinks I'm hot."  
  
"Could be either," Zuko agrees. "Shit, got to go, don't want to be the asshole on the bus taking a call - I'll text once I've asked about you visiting?"  
  
"Sounds good, baby. See you soon."  
  
Sokka hangs up before the automatic _I love you_ trips off his tongue. He says it to friends, to family, but he hasn't said it to Zuko. It's kind of a lot for your boyfriend of four months, especially when they've agreed to take things slow. Well, as slow as is possible when Sokka had fucked him senseless within an hour of meeting him. They're taking the _relationship_ slow.  
  
\---  
  
He's at the gym half an hour later, doom-scrolling Screecher and putting off checking his DMs – there’s a guy who he’s pretty sure keeps making new accounts to send him poorly-lit dick pics, he’s _sure_ it’s the same dick each time – when he gets a text from Zuko with an address.  
  
_And everyone involved says you can just head in when you get here  
And then just hang around and work until I'm done  
Should be completely finished about an hour or two after lunch?_  
  
_more time for turtleduck dates!!!_  
  
It's one of their favourite casual dates, a re-enactment of their first - grabbing a drink, boba in summer but more likely to be coffee or hot chocolate now that it's getting colder, and wandering around the park, generally ending at the turtleduck pond. The final nail in the coffin of Sokka being hopelessly besotted had been Zuko's shy admission that the packets of raisins and dried fruit shoved in the side pocket of his bag were for feeding turtleducks whenever he decided to go to a park. It should be illegal for any one person to be this damn _cute_.  
  
_Gotta go, see you at lunch <3_  
  
Sokka sends back a string of hearts, belatedly realising as he hits send that Zuko has probably already turned off his phone and headed off to start working. Whatever.  
  
Midday finds him double- and triple-checking the address Zuko had given him because... Yeah, warehouse in the middle of an industrial zone sounds about right. There's a couple of parking spots outside, and a knock on the door brings out a guy who squints suspiciously at him.  
  
"I, uh, Zuko said I could drop by? With lunch?" Sokka fumbles his messages open, taking a moment to grin at Zuko's contact photo - from their second date, staring awestruck at a turtleduckling that was nibbling on one finger - and flipping his phone around to show the conversation to the...bouncer? Security guy?  
  
He scans the messages and rolls his eyes, probably at Sokka's unashamedly effusive emoji usage. "Yeah, sure. Come on in, kid. They were saying they should be done in five."  
  
The room is organised chaos, more cameras and lights than any of the shoots Sokka's done before - there certainly wasn't someone whose job appeared to be crouching next to the bed for the sole purpose of shining a light on his ass. But without fail - just like every time - his eyes are drawn magnetically to Zuko.  
  
Sprawled on his back on the bed, wrists tied to the metal bedposts with black silk, one leg flung up over the shoulder of the guy fucking him. Zuko arches into it with his head thrown back, voice catching on the next thrust, moan cutting through the way he pleads for the man to _please touch me, please let me cum_ , and Sokka feels-  
  
Not jealous. He's not _jealous_ , he knows that what Zuko does for work and what Zuko does with him are two different things, but-  
  
Envious. Yeah, that's the one. Spirits, he wishes he was the one getting to fuck his boyfriend right now.  
  
Although, now he's taking the time to look - the elegant arch of his back is _too_ elegant compared to the way he tenses and tightens when he's really getting close, his thigh trembling slightly with the effort of keeping it artfully thrown up over the man's shoulder instead of it being held there, his voice all raspy and sultry instead of the breathless broken whine that Sokka knows so well by now.  
  
Yeah, this is Zuko-on-camera. Just a little bit too gorgeous, too _perfect_ to really be letting go. He shouldn't feel smug about getting to see Zuko fall apart in the way nobody else does, but can you really blame him? Just _look_ at him. Acting or not, he's still the prettiest thing Sokka's ever seen.  
  
"I'm so close-" Zuko gasps out, and it must have been a pre-arranged signal because the other man glances at who must be the director for confirmation then reaches down between them.  
  
Even from this distance Sokka can see the way Zuko bites his lip in concentration - although he supposes that it just looks sexy to anyone who doesn't know his tells - as he rolls his hips up against the man fucking him and wraps his fingers tight around the slack of the silk ties. The man's rhythm stutters, Zuko presses up into him with a performatively desperate moan, and then the man is pulling out and fumbling off the condom with his free hand to streak cum across Zuko's stomach and thighs. A moment later, as his hand picks up its rhythm again, Zuko gasps and follows suit, the carefully arranged lighting perfectly highlighting the taut muscles of his arms and chest as he strains against the ties.  
  
There's a quietly impressed noise from the guy who is still lingering near Sokka -apparently making sure he's not going to interrupt the shoot – who then shrugs at the glance shot his way. "What? He's good at timings. One of the best I've seen who doesn't fake it."  
  
Sokka snorts at that. "Yeah, I guess he is." He'll have to ask Zuko how that works, besides sheer force of will. When they've done shoots together before he's generally been the one keeping Zuko on the edge until it's time.  
  
The guy hands off the discarded condom in exchange for a robe, pulling it around himself and stretching out his back as he turns away from the bed.  
  
"Not even untying his fucking hands, Tui and _La_ ," Sokka mumbles, resisting the urge to barge into the chaos and snuggle Zuko in the way he always does when he's coming down from a high.  
  
There's an exasperated sigh from the man next to him as he apparently notices the same thing before he grabs a towel and robe and heads over to the bed, leaving Sokka standing alone as Zuko's co-star of the day spots him and heads over.  
  
"You the one they said was bringing lunch? Koska or whatever? I'm Chan."  
  
"Sokka. And lunch for Zuko, yeah." Sokka tries not to compare himself to Chan, in height or breadth or...anything else that he may have caught a glimpse of. Past him, he can see Zuko wiping down his chest and stomach and accepting a robe.  
  
"Not trying to muscle in on the shoot, are you? Took a long time to get something solo planned with that one."  
  
Sokka tries very hard not to roll his eyes, but that's preferable to defending Zuko's honour when it would just annoy him. "Trust me, I don't care about interrupting other people's shoots. I'm not his manager or anything."  
  
He just about refrains from adding anything about getting to fuck Zuko every night if he wanted. A lot of people know they're dating, but they’re not so open about it that they just go around telling random strangers.  
  
Across the room, Zuko looks up from talking to someone, and the smile that spreads across his face, soft and bright and _happy_ , just about makes Sokka's heart pound out of his chest.  
  
"You sure? I've heard you've done shoots with him before-"  
  
He's interrupted by Zuko, as scary silent on his approach as always, flinging his arms around his boyfriend's neck. "Sokka! When did you get here?"  
  
"Hi, baby," Sokka murmurs, looping his free arm around his waist to pull him closer and up onto his toes to kiss him. Next to him, there's a quiet _Oh_. "Only just now. How's work?"  
  
"Pretty good. I'm _starving_ , what did you get?"  
  
"Straight to business, huh?" Sokka pouts at him, mock-offended. "No _nice to see you, Sokka?_ No _thank you for bringing me lunch, you're the best boyfriend ever_ -"  
  
Zuko carefully frames Sokka's face with both hands and leans up to plant another kiss on his lips. "Thank you for bringing me lunch, Sokka, best boyfriend-" He smushes Sokka's cheeks and kisses him again, smiling against his lips. "Now give me the food."  
  
"So _rude_ ," Sokka tells him, grinning at the slightly baffled looks Zuko is getting from some of the crew. Zuko's already told him that he prefers to hang out alone and meditate when he's not needed on set, so seeing him like this is probably bizarre for them. "Even after I swung by that dim sum place you like to pick up your favourite."  
  
The look on Zuko's face when he makes grabby hands for the bag is well worth the fact that he had to go nearly half an hour out of his way to go to his favourite dim sum place rather than the cheaper one nearby.  
  
"You're being cuddly today," he says once they've found a couch in a quiet corner to sit and eat.  
  
Zuko hums and tucks his legs up under him, leaning into Sokka's side. "Yeah. Tired. You know how I get."  
  
Yeah, Sokka does. A sleepy Zuko is soft and pliant and snuggly and _adorable_. It's one of the reasons he loves video calls right before bed, watching Zuko curl into his pillow and gaze at Sokka with heavy eyes and not bother to correct the slight lisp that curls around the very edges of his words.  
  
"Wanna take a nap before you have to get back to work? I know you said it'll only be another hour or so, and we only have about twenty minutes left of your lunch break, but you might as well."  
  
Zuko squints up at him. "Sokka, I'm not napping on the sex bed."  
  
"I wasn't _suggesting_ you nap on the sex bed." Sokka moves the empty food cartons onto the floor, untucking his legs so there aren't any awkward pokey knees, and pats his lap. "C'mon. Nap. I've been told I'm a very comfortable pillow."  
  
Zuko bites his lip uncertainly, but he's already shifting position. "You sure?"  
  
"So long as I get to play with your hair."  
  
Zuko rolls his eyes but shifts around and drops his head into Sokka's lap - left side down, facing out into the room. Makes sense; he's talked before about being far too self-aware of his damaged hearing.  
  
"Comfy?"  
  
"Mhm." He already sounds even sleepier, and one hand gropes around until Sokka drops his own into its path and lets Zuko twine their fingers together.  
  
Sokka rests his other hand lightly on his shoulder until Zuko relaxes into it, then slides it up to smooth over his hair. "Even if you can't sleep here," he says softly. "Just try to rest a little bit, 'kay? Close your eyes, let me fuck around with your hair."  
  
"Don't add any braids," Zuko mumbles into his knee. "Gonna do pick-up shots after lunch. Can't change anything."  
  
"Baby, no-one's watching porn for the _continuity_."  
  
Zuko snorts at that, but settles down again as Sokka rubs one thumb over his knuckles and, with the other, finds the perfect angle for sitting still and stroking his hair with the minimum amount of jostling. It had been after sex one time that Sokka had found himself with a lapful of Zuko and had _finally_ given in to the urge to pet his hair, and had got a slightly slurred explanation half an hour later that he's sorry, but people stroking his hair makes him fall asleep. A hangover from his mother, he'd said.  
  
It's absolutely precious, and the fact that Zuko trusts him enough to let him do this is incredible, and he could spend the whole rest of his life like this, Zuko in his lap or tucked up against his chest, watching the way he relaxes into sleep-  
  
_Oh_.  
  
That's. Um. That's something that Sokka needs to think about later.  
  
But his determination to take things carefully is waning by the second as Zuko makes a soft little noise, not quite asleep, and pulls their entwined hands in towards himself until he can kiss Sokka's knuckles.  
  
"Go to _sleep_ , sweetheart," he murmurs, instead of saying anything close to what he was just thinking.  
  
Zuko bites the tip of the finger that's just brushing his lips, and Sokka bites back a yelp and flicks his ear. "You stopped playing with my hair," Zuko says, like the absolute _brat_ that he is, and pushes his head back against Sokka's hand.  
  
"You are an actual cat," Sokka tells him, but goes back to stroking his hair without complaint.  
  
Saying _I forgot to keep petting your hair because I suddenly realised that I'm definitely falling in love with you and I don't want to take this too fast and scare you away_ would take too long to explain.  
  
Sokka drops his head back against the wall and focuses on the rise and fall of Zuko's chest against the side of his leg, the feeling of his hair under his hand, soft and sleek and with the occasional snarled knot that he fights the urge to untangle. This isn't new information. He's been falling for Zuko since day one, this frankly adorable man who has been in the industry for years but somehow still blushes at compliments and pet names, who had refused to make the first move because he'd been scared that it would have been taking advantage of someone new to the job, who never goes anywhere without a cheap box of raisins shoved in a pocket for feeding turtleducks.  
  
This - the fact that it now feels like it's so much more than just an infatuation with a pretty boy - is something that he'll have to take more time to work through, though.  
  
There's a presence at his side, and Sokka blinks his eyes open again to see the guy that he's pretty sure he recognises as the director. He's looking down at Zuko with a tolerantly amused expression, but glances up at Sokka's movement.  
  
"So you're the industry boyfriend he's mentioned, then?"  
  
"Uh. Yes, I- Zuko's talked about me?"  
  
"Incessantly," the man says with a perfectly arched brow, and Sokka snorts, trying not to jostle Zuko too much.  
  
It apparently doesn't work, because Zuko makes a little noise of complaint. "'m right here. I can _hear_ you."  
  
"Turn over then," Sokka says cheerfully, patting his cheek with his free hand, and much to his surprise Zuko does with a grumble, burying his face in Sokka's stomach and twisting their joined hands awkwardly, scarred side facing up. Huh. He's usually not that open about acknowledging his hearing issues in that ear. He adjusts his grip on Zuko's hand, glancing back up at the man. "Sorry. You were saying?"  
  
He extends one hand and Sokka shakes it, going back to stroking Zuko's hair. "Piandao," he says, and Sokka blinks. Not just the director; the entire damn head of Shu Jing Entertainment.  
  
"Sokka," he says, then shrugs. "Although I guess you already knew that."  
  
"I did, yes," Piandao says, glancing back down at Zuko. "He mentioned you met on set?"  
  
"Yeah. It was, uh, my first scene, actually. But we got on really well when we were chatting before, and then after as well, and I wanted to keep talking to him so I asked if he wanted to go grab a drink and-" He shrugs. "I don't think it's how things are usually done, but it seems to be working out well enough so far." He brushes one thumb along Zuko's jawline and grins at the way it just makes him nuzzle into the soft fabric of Sokka's hoodie.  
  
"Working under June, yes? She's good as your first director."  
  
"Yeah, she was. All my stuff since then has been with her studio, actually - about half with Zuko, few on my own, few with other people."  
  
Piandao hums, looking consideringly down at them. "I'll have to confirm a few things with her, but I'm sure she won't mind if I poach you every now and then until you get established with a few different studios. Working with Zuko, most likely."  
  
"Yeah? Sounds good." Spirits, how would he make connections without an exceptionally useful boyfriend? Well, the same as everyone else, he supposes - and he doesn't think that having on-camera chemistry with the guy he's dating equates to nepotism, or at least he hopes it doesn't. "How long has Zuko been working with you? I'd ask him but-" He twirls a silky strand around one finger, careful not to pull.  
  
"Since the beginning. I was the one to ask if he'd thought about getting into the industry, actually."  
  
Sokka remembers the story - he'd modelled for his ex-girlfriend, Mai, a woman Sokka still hasn't met but who sounds intimidating, and then the company they'd sold photos to had asked him to consider filming. "Seems like you made a good call," he notes. "Zuko seems good at what he does."  
  
"Oh, he is. Award-winning, technically." At Sokka's clearly visible surprise, Piandao raises a brow. "You didn't know? I suppose he's not the sort to talk about it." He glances back over the set. "I have to get some things sorted - let Zuko know we're restarting in ten."  
  
Sokka flashes him a thumbs-up and waits for him to head off before patting Zuko on the cheek. "Up and at 'em, sweetheart," he says as Zuko stirs and rolls onto his back, one hand at his waist to guard against him rolling too far and straight onto the floor. "Time to get up."  
  
"Mm?" Zuko scrubs at his eyes with the back of one hand, and Sokka resists the urge to kiss him senseless.  
  
"You are _unbearably_ adorable," he informs Zuko, planting a kiss on his forehead anyway. "C'mon, you need to get back to work. Good nap?"  
  
"Okay nap. If you ignore my pillow talking and moving around and stopping me from actually falling asleep."  
  
"I couldn't just ignore Piandao," Sokka points out. "I was making business connections."  
  
Zuko sits up and stretches, the neck of his robe slipping down off his shoulders and falling open across his chest, and Sokka ogles appreciatively. Across the room, Chan is also ogling appreciatively in Zuko's general direction as he ostentatiously re-oils the muscles of his chest, and Sokka rolls his eyes and pulls Zuko into a kiss, grinning as his boyfriend melts into his arms. It's always nice to remind himself that Zuko, for some bizarre unknowable reason, has picked _him_ to be the person he stays with at the end of the day.  
  
"Go on," he says, ushering Zuko away with a cheerful slap on his truly glorious backside. "Go wow them, babe."  
  
"I regret _ever_ letting you visit me on set," Zuko gripes, but he's got that tiny smile curling at the edge of his lips and a faint blush high on his cheeks.  
  
It's not like Sokka can actually do much to distract Zuko while he's shooting - he really does have his own work to do. Mostly not sex-related, although he does answer a few emails here and there from his second account, the one he uses for industry stuff so it never crosses streams with his emails about coding and contracted dev work.  
  
He doesn't really get a chance to talk to Zuko again until he's grabbing his bag from next to Sokka, tugging lightly on his hair to get his attention. "I'll be five minutes in the shower then I'll be out?"  
  
Sokka shoots him a thumbs-up and heads out to dump his bag and laptop in the car, pausing as Piandao catches his eye on the way.  
  
"I just thought I'd say, Sokka - now that I've had a fair few people vouch for you, not just Zuko, I'll be happy to get something sorted properly. He's got my contact details - reach out to me and I'll get something arranged. There's a few potential scripts lined up that would fit the two of you."  
  
Oh, yeah, scripts. He's had so much fun with June's more hands-off approach, bar her saying that she wants scenes to get from Point A to Point D with a couple of specific beats in the middle, that he'd forgotten more polished studios also tended to actually want a modicum of control over their content.  
  
"I'll get in touch at some point tomorrow, probably," he says. "Thanks for the work, by the way."  
  
Piandao snorts. "You've not got the role just yet."  
  
"Thanks for the opportunity," Sokka amends, and returns Piandao's nod as he heads out the door. He likes June, and Suki had vouched for her, but he can see how Piandao would have been a good first director as well.  
  
When Zuko gets in the car he looks even more tired than he had at lunch, and his forehead drops onto Sokka's shoulder before he has a chance to shift and wrap him in a hug.  
  
"Still sleepy?"  
  
"Mhm." Zuko tilts his head and sighs, breath gusting across Sokka's collarbone. "Just. Kind of exhausted. I'm not-" He leans forward for a moment to let Sokka worm one arm behind his back in a sort of awkward half-hug. "I don't think I'm feeling up for going to the park today."  
  
He _must_ be tired if he's turning down turtleducks.  
  
"Not a problem, baby. Want to go grab coffee before I drop you back at yours?"  
  
Zuko blinks up at him, bleary-eyed. "It's- I'm not saying I don't want to spend time with you. I still want our date time. Just... I'm too tired for the park. But I guess-"  
  
Sokka ignores the awkward angle to haul Zuko into a proper hug across the centre console. "Zuko. Of _course_ I still want date time. I just didn't want to keep you from passing out in your bed if that's what you needed. We can go for coffee - or I've got pizza and ice cream in the freezer. Yeah?" Zuko nods against his chest and Sokka plants a kiss on the top of his head. "And I have a hot shower," he adds. "You still smell like sex."  
  
Zuko shifts back to his side of the car, running a hand through his hair and making a face at the tangles as Sokka pulls out of the parking space. "Do you have shampoo and conditioner?"  
  
"I- Yes? I wash my hair?"  
  
"No, I mean. Do you have separate shampoo and conditioner? In separate bottles?"  
  
Sokka blinks at him, taking his eyes off the road for a moment. "Yes. Separate shampoo. And conditioner. In two different bottles."  
  
"Oh, thank Agni," Zuko says, like the dramatic brat that he is. "Once I stayed overnight at this guy's house and I absolutely _had_ to wash my hair after, it was gross, and all he had was 3-in-1. _Three_ in one, Sokka. Shampoo, conditioner _and_ body wash. My hair was fucked for _days_."  
  
Sokka reaches over to ruffle Zuko's hair, grinning at his pout. "It might not be quite up to your standards of haircare, your highness, but it does come in separate bottles. You'll have to buy your own fancy stuff in the future, though."  
  
It hangs in the air between them for a moment. _In the future_ because, well... Neither of them have stopped over at each other's, yet. It's just...not worked out, okay?  
  
Zuko had very carefully picked his apartment based on public transport links to the rest of the city, since driving isn't on the table, while Sokka's area doesn't even have a bus stop within a fifteen-minute walk. Zuko stopping over means Sokka driving him where he needs to be in the morning, which is... Well. Usually some unbearable hour. He wakes up in the morning to text Zuko, but he'd be a danger on the road that early, and besides, Zuko feels bad and refuses to do it. And they're both absolute chaotic disasters who haven't got round to making copies of keys yet, much less exchanging them, so Sokka can't stop over at Zuko's lest he be kicked out at the ass-crack of dawn or risk being locked in.  
  
It's not like they haven't been round at each other's or hooked up - outside of work, that is - but they've all been afternoon delights that have absolutely lived up to their names, or visiting in the evening and culminating in one or the other leaving.  
  
"I know it's awkward for you," Sokka says into the silence, like he has the last couple of times. He doesn't want to pressure Zuko, okay? "But you absolutely can stay the night if you want. If you can, logistically. I know it's usually a no-go, though-"  
  
"Yeah," Zuko says, and Sokka tries very hard not to crash the car. "Yeah, I can do it tonight. I'm normally opening the shop for Uncle because all the teenagers he hires don't want to take it-"  
  
"-because you've said you have to be at the shop for _5 am_ , baby. That's why. That's pretty early."  
  
Zuko gets to the shop for five, usually, to set up, then hands it off to an employee and heads to the gym down the road to work out, then finally back to his own place to meditate and eat before his actual paid job. Sokka _really_ needs his own key before he stops at Zuko's overnight.  
  
"Yeah, well. Uncle's got to be up early for a video call with someone off in a different time zone anyway, so he said he'll deal with it tomorrow. So." Zuko briefly leans over, brushes his lips against Sokka's cheekbone. "I can do tonight. And then- I'll get keys sorted. Promise. Find out how to get you a parking permit so you can park at mine overnight, then you can stop at mine whenever you want."  
  
Sokka keeps his eyes on the road, but leans across into Zuko's space and waits for another kiss on the cheek, heart fluttering when it comes feather-light. "And when my lease is up, I'll find a place that's less ridiculously inconvenient. Promise. Then both places are an option whenever, and not just yours."  
  
He doesn't say _Once my lease is up, maybe we could...?_ Too much too soon. He's always been a bad judge of that.  
  
"Hey," he says instead. "Piandao said something about being award-winning?"  
  
Zuko's blush is immediate and crimson. "He didn't have to say it like _that_ ," he mumbles, and only gives in after one of Sokka's hands leaves the wheel to poke repeatedly at one thigh. "But I, um. Yeah. The first year I moved into film, back when I was...maybe nineteen? Best newcomer. In the gay categories, specifically," he hastens to add, as though that somehow makes it any less impressive.  
  
Sokka pulls into his parking spot and immediately spins to drop his hands onto Zuko's shoulders and plant a kiss on his lips. "Sweetheart, that's _incredible_. Why didn't you- Okay, no, stupid question. No point asking why _you_ didn't bother telling me about a _really exciting achievement_." Zuko rolls his eyes at that, but doesn't disagree. "You know I'm going to find footage of the award shows, right?"  
  
"Of course you are," he mutters, but Sokka can feel him smile against his lips as he leans in for another kiss. "C'mon. We should get inside before you get called out for canoodling in the car again."  
  
"I just _love_ nosy neighbours," Sokka grumbles, but acquiesces. The one neighbour that he thinks is aware of his career change - he’s been reasonably open about it on social media - had been the one to glare at them last time, and he's fairly sure that the man suspects him of running a full escort service out of his apartment or something at this rate. It’s not his fault that making out with Zuko in the car is _romantic_.  
  
\---  
  
While Zuko is in the shower, steaming up the bathroom, Sokka cracks the door to drop some clothes through.  
  
"Got you something to change into that should fit," he calls. "Pizza should be ready in ten. Think you'll be out?" A pale hand sticks around the edge of the shower curtain, thumb raised, and Sokka blows him a kiss, loud enough that Zuko should be able to hear it over the water, and goes to make sure he actually turned the oven on.  
  
In the end Zuko emerges just as he's taking the pizzas out and sliding them onto plates, which is _terrible_ timing, because it means that when he turns around to ask Zuko which he wants, they nearly both end up on the floor.  
  
"Careful!" he yelps, darting forward to tilt the plates flat again rather than letting them drop, and Sokka does his best to catch his breath.  
  
"I. Um. Sorry. You just-" He goes to gesture, then remembers he's still holding the plates.  
  
Zuko makes a face, scrunching his nose in that way that always makes Sokka want to kiss it. "Yeah. It-" He holds up the joggers that Sokka had dropped into the bathroom with the rest of the clothes. "They kind of don't fit."  
  
"Roll the cuffs, even if it does offend your impeccable sense of style. Oh, wait you mean-?" He abandons the pizzas on the counter and takes the joggers off Zuko, holding them up against himself. "If you wanted to call me thicc, babe, all you had to do was say it."  
  
Zuko sighs, tilting forward until he can press his forehead against Sokka's shoulder. " _Please_ don't say it like that," he complains, muffled, and Sokka laughs, pushing him back upright and grinning at the way his hands sit on Zuko's slender hips.  
  
"It's not my fault you're so cute and tiny-"  
  
"I'm not _tiny-!_ "  
  
He's not, for all that he’s shorter and doesn’t carry his strength with the same breadth that Sokka does. Spirits, Zuko could absolutely kick his ass. Has, once or twice. Sokka gets away with throwing him around and manhandling him because he can, just in terms of size difference and _physics_ , but if Zuko ever wanted to turn the tables Sokka’s fairly sure he wouldn’t stand a chance. Still, like this - hair still damp and curling at the ends, wearing a hoodie that's oversized even on Sokka, sleeves hanging almost past his fingertips and long enough on his thighs that it hides his boxers completely - he does look smaller and slighter than he really is. And sexy as fuck, too, until Sokka looks down and sees the fuzzy socks he'd stolen from Suki and Katara's last girls-night-in. Okay, fine, sexy _and_ adorable.  
  
"I'll buy joggers with drawstrings next time," he promises. "Then you can steal them all you like, and they can fit us both."  
  
Zuko just hums in agreement, sneaking a hand down from Sokka's waist to grab and squeeze, and he has to put a pizza between them before yet another lengthy kitchen make-out session can get out of hand. Yeah, he likes his body and what he's made of it, but he enjoys Zuko's blatant appreciation of his ass and thighs even more.  
  
\---  
  
They've got through two pizzas and nearly a full tub of ice cream between them before Zuko's tiredness hits him again and he rearranges himself between Sokka's legs, leaning back against his chest with ankles flung over the arm of the sofa.  
  
"You good?"  
  
"Mhm." Zuko snuggles back into the circle of Sokka's arms, closing his eyes. "It's nice to be able to do this and know that I won't have to get up and make you drive me back."  
  
"My bed is even comfier, you know."  
  
"Yeah, but I'm already here."  
  
Sokka kisses the side of his neck again. "Don't doze. You'll screw up your sleep schedule."  
  
"Don't have one in the first place," Zuko grumbles, but shifts so Sokka can get his phone out of his pocket and flops back against his chest again.  
  
It's still open to his camera when he unlocks it and Sokka clicks through to his photos, grinning at the series of blurs that culminate in a close-up photo of his pizza before he'd managed to call a truce and save his phone from the grease. They'd put on whatever trashy reality TV they could find, and Sokka had been throwing all the stupid jokes and puns he could at the screen and one of them, not even a _good_ one, had somehow hit Zuko just right, and Sokka had scrambled for his phone because _fuck, I've got to get photo evidence of this, I can't believe I got you this bad with my stupid-ass puns_ -  
  
There's one good photo, though, at the beginning of his series of blurs before Zuko had made frantic giggly grabs for his phone and Sokka had used it as an excuse to haul him into couch cuddles. He's got one hand pressed to his mouth - to hold back the mouthful of water that he'd come _terrifyingly_ close to spraying all over Sokka, they're kinky but they're not _that_ kinky - and the other clutching a slice of pizza, and his eyes are crinkling into a laugh, and he's curled up on the couch in Sokka's old hoodie and fuzzy socks and not much else. He looks soft and sleepy and domestic and-  
  
Sokka's heart is doing that stupid fluttery thing again.  
  
He really needs to take some time to think this over, but when Zuko is tucked up neatly between his thighs and in his arms is not that time.  
  
" _Baby_ ," he mumbles, nosing into Zuko's hair and realising that the familiar floral scent - freesia, Zuko had said - is gone, and instead he smells like Sokka and like the shampoo he's used since he was a kid and like _home_.  
  
"Mhm?"  
  
Sokka hadn't actually meant to get his attention with that, but- "Have you thought any more?" he asks carefully, shifting them both until he can see Zuko's face in profile, see his reaction. "About us going public?"  
  
Zuko twists further in his arms to look up at him. "I- About us? Our relationship? You mean telling people?"  
  
"I mean, obviously some people know, but, like. Telling _everyone_. As public figures or whatever, not just as Sokka and Zuko telling their friends. I don't want to push you, but-" He sighs, tilting his face into the kisses Zuko presses to his jawline, knowing he's babbling but knowing that Zuko gets it anyway. "I just want to talk about you, y'know? I just want to be able to say _look at how fucking adorable my boyfriend is, I love him so much, he's the best_ and not just message it privately to Suki every time, I think she's getting kinda sick of us already-"  
  
Zuko has tensed in his arms, golden eyes wide and luminescent in the dim light, brow furrowed, lips parted on words he's not saying, and spirits, he just _had_ to go and mess up the best fucking thing that's ever happened to him-  
  
"You didn't mess up-" Zuko starts, and Sokka tries to steamroll right over the embarrassment of realising he'd said that out loud before he can think about it too much.  
  
"Zuko, seriously, if you don't want to go public that's fine, I had this conversation with Suki back in the day and when I started camming, I get that it would fuck with your career to be public about being in a relationship, I never wanted to pressure you-"  
  
Zuko's fingers, soft and warm and just a little calloused from his swords, press against his lips, and the effort it takes not to immediately part his lips and take them into his mouth - look, they have _precedent_ , okay? he has a possibly unhealthy obsession with how pretty Zuko's hands are - is enough to shut up his babbling.  
  
"Sokka," Zuko says softly, and shifts until he's perched on Sokka's thigh, back against the back of the couch, leaning into his shoulder. "Sokka. You _love_ me?"  
  
And. Oh. _Oh_.  
  
"I said that bit out loud as well, huh?" he says, and it sounds weak even to his own ears.  
  
Zuko is still _looking_ at him, but his hand has slipped down to cup his jaw and- He doesn't look like he's about to up and leave if Sokka says the wrong thing. So. That's good. Right?  
  
"Yeah," he says at last, after what's probably far too long of a pause. "Yeah, I- It felt like too soon to say it, but- I've been heading that way since the beginning, I think, but I didn't really put it into words until recently, and I didn't want to pressure you, I _never_ wanted you to think that-"  
  
" _Sokka_ ," Zuko says, more insistently, and he shuts up. He shifts to brace both hands on Sokka's shoulders, fingers curling into the soft cotton of his hoodie. "Say it again."  
  
"I'm kind of stupid in love with you," Sokka tells him, because his brain doesn't seem capable of babbling on like usual when Zuko is looking at him like _that_. "Like, an embarrassing amount. I wasn't joking when I said Suki was sick of me talking about how much I love you, even if I never managed to put it into words like that until today-"  
  
He narrowly avoids a broken nose as Zuko falls against him, arms around his neck and fingers tangling into his hair, knee jutting into his stomach, but the kiss he sinks into is warm and soft and _ZukoZukoZuko_ -  
  
"You trying to get my attention or something?" Zuko mumbles, mouthing sloppily along the line of his jaw, and Sokka makes a frankly mortifying sound as teeth drag over his pulse-point.  
  
He's saying a lot of things accidentally out loud today. Zuko probably wasn't the only one who should have taken a nap at lunch.  
  
"Mm. No. Just-" He worms his hands up under the back of Zuko's stolen hoodie to drag fingers across his hips and waist and up along his spine. "Just happy. That you're here. That I get to have this."  
  
Zuko pulls back, just enough to look him in the eye, and he clearly decided that whatever he sees means Sokka deserves more kisses because all he does is rearrange himself to straddle his lap properly.  
  
"Reminds me of our first time," Sokka says into the side of his neck, sneaking a hand down to grab Zuko's ass and humming approvingly at Zuko's hitched breath and the roll of his hips. "First scene, whatever. Had to stop kissing you and get on with sex, but _fuck_ , baby, could have kissed you like this for hours."  
  
"Mhm?" Zuko sounds all breathy and distracted as Sokka nips at his collarbone. "Would've, if it wasn't work. You kiss good."  
  
"Wow." Sokka pulls back, grinning as Zuko's eyes refocus, still a little bleary, and cups his face in both hands to pull him down within reach. A kiss on top of his head, on each cheek - avoiding his scar as usual, the _no touching during sexytimes_ holds outside of work as well, even though Zuko's okay with him touching it when they're just cuddling or it needs moisturiser applied - a kiss between his eyes, on his chin, another right on the tip of his nose. "Kissing _good_ ," he says between pecks. "What a compliment for your boyfriend who just confessed that he's madly in love with you, huh?"  
  
Zuko makes a little disgruntled noise and leans down to kiss Sokka on the lips properly. "Shut up. I'm _tired_." Yeah, he looks it. As unbelievably sexy as he is when he's straddling Sokka like this to grind down against him, he's clearly regretting the decision to put any significant amount of effort into it, and he goes easily when Sokka pulls him down into his lap properly and tucks him up against his chest again.  
  
"And," Zuko says abruptly, pulling away from where he's nuzzling into Sokka's neck - not kissing, just _being_ \- and Sokka blinks down at him when he doesn't elaborate.  
  
"And?" Zuko blinks up at him, and the pretty blush is back. "Do I need to kiss you until you remember how to do words again, sweetheart?"  
  
Zuko rolls his eyes dramatically, the effect only somewhat diminished by the jaw-cracking yawn halfway through, and tightens his arms around Sokka's waist. "And," he says. "Look, I'm pretty shit with- with words, and _feelings_ -"  
  
Sokka presses his lips to Zuko's temple for a moment. "You don't have to say it if you're not-"  
  
"I _am_. Have been for a while, really." He stretches up awkwardly to kiss Sokka, the angle twisting him so his lips just barely brush the corner of his mouth. "I'm kind of stupid in love with you, too."  
  
\---  
  
It's less scary now that he's said it, Zuko decides, and he's selfishly glad that Sokka had fucked up and said it first. It's been far too easy to let his brain convince him that he's too clingy, too needy, moving too fast, and Sokka is just so _nice_ , surely he was like this with all the people he casually dated-  
  
But. Apparently not. And he trusts Sokka's babbling, trusts that he's telling the truth about this and not just trying to get into his pants now Zuko has agreed to stay over. Well, it's not as though Zuko needs a love confession to let Sokka into his pants - in his bed or car or otherwise - but he doesn't think that this blushy stumbling babbling was any sort of scheme. Sokka's too smart for that. Mostly.  
  
And even besides that - he trusts Sokka. He _loves_ Sokka. Holy shit.  
  
A warm hand tightens on his waist. "You good?" Sokka sounds amused, and when Zuko glances up he's grinning down at him, eyes soft.  
  
"I- Yeah." He awkwardly hooks one leg over Sokka's hip so he can tuck his face back into the crook of his neck. "Just happy," he echoes, although he's too sleepy to mirror the make-out session from earlier as well. "And for what it's worth, Mai is just as tired of hearing me talk about you as Suki probably is about me."  
  
"Oh _no_ ," Sokka says, dramatically despairing, and his hand starts to sneak up beneath Zuko's hoodie again. It's an excellent hoodie, for the record, and it's _his_ now, and judging by Sokka's face in the kitchen earlier he'll be more than happy for Zuko to claim it. "I can't have Mai hating me before she's even met me, she's gonna veto me. I need your ex to _like_ me."  
  
"You said Suki hates hearing about me too, and I haven't met _her_ yet." He knows Sokka has sent her pictures of them both - Sokka always, _always_ gets his consent before sending pictures Zuko's in, he's the actual sweetest and he loves him and _oh, yeah, he can think that now without having to catch himself-_ _  
_  
Sokka plants a loud kiss on the top of his head. "Don't worry about it, baby. Suki's gonna love you. How could she not, you're great, of course she'll love you."  
  
"'m _not_ ," Zuko grumbles, but if it's difficult to sound grumpy when Sokka's thumb is rubbing tiny circles along the bones of his spine. "And Mai will still- maybe not like you, no guarantees, but she'll still approve of you. Of course she will. You make me happy."  
  
Sokka buries his face in Zuko's hair, arms tightening around him. "Holy shit," he says, muffled. "Holy _fuck_ , baby. Tui and La, you can't just _say_ shit like that without warning. You're gonna make me cry."  
  
Zuko worries his lower lip between his teeth, sliding his own arms around Sokka's waist. "I- Is that a good thing? Good crying?"  
  
Sokka nuzzles his hair for a moment longer before planting another kiss at his temple. "Yeah. Yeah, sweetheart. Good crying. I'm too tired to handle big emotions like an adult, I think."  
  
"You're not the only one," Zuko says, slipping a hand up under soft cotton to rub one thumb idly over the slightly raised scar at Sokka's hip - from falling down the stairs, he'd said. And Sokka's parents seem like they were - and are - good ones, so he supposes that it really did happen that way. "Honestly thought I was going to start crying when you just came out and said it like that. Too fucking tired for meaningful conversations."  
  
"Yeah, I get that." Sokka's chin is digging into the top of his head again. "So is the _are we going public_ conversation too big for tonight? Leave it for tomorrow?"  
  
"No. No, it's not too big, I-" Zuko reaches up to dislodge Sokka's chin, then leans up and kisses him again, feeling all soft and mushy at how he melts into it. "I want to. That's what I was going to say, before you distracted me by talking about- about _love_ and shit. I want to be able to talk about you, too."  
  
"Do you want to make the posts at the same time?" Sokka says against his lips, and Zuko hums.  
  
"No. Phone was already at, like, five percent when I got here. It's definitely dead by now. I'll post a confirmation in the morning or whatever."  
  
He doesn't use his Screecher account anywhere near as much as Sokka does, and his is all business while Sokka's is a weird mix of random family shit and Suki's advocacy posts and talking about upcoming shoots he's got scheduled. It makes more sense for Sokka to go first anyway.  
  
Sokka pulls up the photo he'd taken earlier, and- Oh. That looks. Well. Better than Zuko had expected. Spirits, he looks _happy_. He doesn't think there are many photos of him _laughing_ past about toddlerhood.  
  
A hand brushing against his arm makes him jerk his gaze up and away from the phone. "You good?" Sokka asks, voice soft, eyes warm, and Zuko says "I love you," just because he can, now. Then, as Sokka's eyes widen and he blushes dark, he adds, "Can you send me that photo? Uncle would like it, I think."  
  
"C'mere," Sokka mumbles, pulling him up into another kiss. "What did I tell you about being sappy and making me cry, huh?"  
  
"I'll learn to wield my power responsibly," Zuko tells him, and stretches up to kiss Sokka on the cheek, right over the dimple that had absolutely killed him during that first shoot. "Are you going to post it?"  
  
In the end, Sokka foregoes any flowery love confessions.  
  
_fellas, is it bisexual to think that your boyfriend is the cutest thing in the world?_  
  
"That's ridiculous," Zuko tells him as Sokka grins unrepentantly and tags him in it.  
  
"Do you want to veto it? No? Three, two, one-" He waits just a moment longer, in case Zuko does want to veto, then hits _screech_.  
  
Then immediately turns off his phone and shoves it in his pocket.  
  
"Aren't you-" Zuko gestures vaguely with the hand that isn't currently shoved up Sokka's hoodie.  
  
"Nope. I'll turn it back on when we go to bed in case I get an emergency call or whatever, but I'm not looking at it until the morning. You can check yours in the morning, as well. Speaking of-" He cups Zuko's jaw and runs a thumb along his unscarred cheekbone. "You look dead on your feet, baby. Wanna go to bed?"  
  
Sokka has a spare toothbrush, and Zuko keeps extras of all his meds and creams in his work bag just in case, so they don't need to leave and get anything. Instead they stand side-by-side at the sink, Zuko blushing every time Sokka catches his eye in the mirror, then he closes his bad eye and lets Sokka rub the moisturiser into the scar, slow and gentle.  
  
"There," he says, pressing a light kiss right below the lower edge. "You got your medicated cream in case it flares up?"  
  
"With the rest of my meds, yeah. In my bag. I'll put it next to the bed, though."  
  
>He's got the t-shirt Sokka offered him as pyjamas halfway over his head when he hears a frustrated little sound from where Sokka has already tucked himself up under the covers. "What is it?"  
  
"You probably won't be able to wear my boxers either, will you? Sorry for making you wear them two days in a row plus overnight, that's bad boyfriend planning."  
  
"'s fine-" Zuko breaks off to yawn again, groping around in his bag for his phone charger. "It's fine, I've got spares. Don't look at me like _that_. It only takes one time of a studio not telling me I was expected to wear my own clothes for a shoot before I started bringing at least one spare set to everything I do."  
  
He plugs his phone in, waiting for it to charge enough to turn it on and put it on silent, then slips into bed next to Sokka, immediately wriggling around to fit up against him.  
  
"Should have known you'd be little spoon for sleeping as well as snuggling," Sokka mumbles against the back of his neck, but he doesn't sound mad. Far from it.  
  
"Not always," Zuko tells him, then pauses. "Wait, are you sniffing my hair?"  
  
"Sorry," Sokka says against his nape.  
  
"No, I'm not mad, I just- It's _your_ shampoo."  
  
"Exactly." Sokka sighs and kisses the side of his neck, and Zuko tries to keep his thoughts on track. "It's stupid, but - I've always used the same shampoo. Like, _always_. Even back when I was too young to wash my hair myself and-" He breaks off, but Zuko gets it. They've got that in common. They'd both been almost the same age, too.  
  
"Smells like home?" Sokka nods minutely. "My thing like that is this one face cream," Zuko says quietly. "That I have back at home. It's expensive as shit, but it's the one she always used in the evenings for overnight, so it's what I always smelt when she came to tuck me into bed."  
  
When he'd been recommended the cream by a shop assistant, when he'd said he was a skincare newbie and had offered an embarrassingly high budget - looking young and attractive is his income, okay, he needs to invest in his career - and she'd opened it to show him and the wave of nostalgia had hit him like a brick wall- Well. Sokka doesn't need to hear about his breakdown in the skincare aisle of a makeup store tonight. Maybe another time. It's a conversation that'll bring up the big emotions that neither of them is awake enough for.  
  
Although there's one more big-emotion conversation, they need to have.  
  
"Sokka," he whispers, tipping his head back to rest it against his shoulder and getting a quiet hum in response. "How awake are you?"  
  
"Awake enough to talk."  
  
Zuko bites his lip. "You know about my nightmares, right?"  
  
"Yeah, baby. Guessing that's why you didn't sleep so well last night?"  
  
Zuko rolls his eyes, even though Sokka can't see it. "Yeah. But I, uh, kind of tone it down when I talk about it. I- I scream, apparently. Sometimes. Or I cry. Or sometimes I- I say things. If they're flashbacks."  
  
"Zuko," Sokka whispers against his skin. " _Sweetheart_."  
  
"Yeah. Yeah, I know. You're gonna regret letting me stay over."  
  
He can feel Sokka's frown against his neck. "You know that's not what I meant." Zuko doesn't have an answer to that one. He knows Sokka can appreciate a bit of dark humour, but maybe _I might wake you up screaming because of my flashbacks of childhood trauma_ wasn't the ideal moment for self-deprecation. "What can I do to help if you're having one?"  
  
"I don't know," he whispers into the pillow. "It's been a really long time since I've been with someone when it's happened. Maybe...whatever feels right? Just don't touch my face, or try to grab me or shake me or anything."  
  
"But I can touch you? Just not roughly?" Zuko nods. "Okay, baby. I can do that. I used to help Katara with nightmares and panic attacks a lot, so I've got some experience down on my résumé."  
  
"You didn't show me _that_ résumé at your interview." See, look, he's fine, he can talk about this. It's fine. He's fine. He's not suddenly realised that Sokka is going to see the worst parts of him right after talking about _love_ and going public.  
  
"And when you said that you might say things-" Sokka starts, and he can't help the way he tenses and starts to say _it's a long story_ \- "I'm gonna try really hard to not listen to what you say, yeah?" The arm looped over his waist squeezes him for a moment.  
  
"Oh," Zuko says after a second. "I- It's just- It's not going to be fun stuff. And you probably should know what you're-"  
  
"If the next words out of your mouth are _what I'm getting myself in for_ , Zuko, I _swear_ \- Sweetheart. Of _course_ I'm not going to listen to what you say. I want you to tell me about these things if you want to, if you trust me with that. Not because you had a night terror and I sat and listened to you talk about things you'd never tell me if you were awake. Okay?"  
  
"Okay," Zuko whispers into the darkness. He feels all warm and squirmy and soft, and he's pretty sure that if he was awake enough to interrogate his body he'd land on a combination of embarrassment and being hopelessly in love, but. He's not. So. "Sorry I'm not giving you more, here, I just-"  
  
"Big emotions again?" Sokka shifts behind him and a single kiss lands high on his cheekbone. "Too sleepy?"  
  
"Mm. Yeah." He is. _So_ sleepy. But Sokka is big and warm and solid at his back, and he's just had an afternoon of pants-feelings from making out on the couch and heart-feelings from the damn _love confessions_ \- He wriggles back against Sokka until their legs slot together, and feels rather than hears the rumble of laughter against his back.  
  
"I thought you said you were tired?"  
  
"I _am_ tired." Zuko grinds his hips back a little and grins into the darkness when Sokka's arm tightens across his waist and pulls him back flush with his body. He can feel Sokka against his ass, half-hard through a couple of layers of fabric.  
  
"So you just want me to do all the work, huh?" Sokka clearly can't even bring himself to sound mad, already hiking up Zuko's oversized t-shirt to his armpits.  
  
"I don't want it to be work," Zuko argues, voice catching as Sokka's questing fingers find a nipple and tweak it. "I just want you to touch me."  
  
Sokka's other hand reaches down between his legs to rub through the fabric of his boxers, and with their bodies plastered together, he clearly feels Zuko's wince. "Still sore?"  
  
"A little bit."  
  
"Don't blame you. Need to give you time to recover from that shoot, holy _shit_ that guy-"  
  
"All dick and no finesse," Zuko mumbles, getting comfortable against Sokka's front and rolling his hips back against him to feel him twitch. "'s why you're a better fuck."  
  
"What a compliment," Sokka says dryly, nipping at the shell of his ear, but he sounds smug as Zuko interlaces their fingers against his chest.  
  
"You know that's not why I'm with you, right? I wanna be with you because you're _you_ , not just because that first shoot was some of the best sex I'd had in my life."  
  
Sokka muffles a laugh against the back of his neck, breath hitching as Zuko wriggles from the tickling of it. "Yeah, baby. I know. But we're too tired for mind-blowing sex tonight, and you're still sore, so you'll have to settle for a mediocre sleepy handjob instead."  
  
Zuko makes a vague noise of dissent. "'s still gonna be good. And I get to fall asleep with you after, so it's going to be. I don't know. Probably the best handjob. Definitely in the top three."  
  
Sokka rearranges them with that careless ease that always has Zuko insanely turned on - manhandling had _never_ been this big a deal until Sokka had put him over his shoulder that first time, he _swears_ \- with one arm tucked under Zuko's waist to hold him still and the other draped over his hip to squeeze him through his boxers.  
  
"Okay, I told you to stop being sappy at me and you keep bringing out _that_ shit, if I cry during sex it will be entirely _your_ fault- Wait, you rate your handjobs?"  
  
"It's the sort of thing they ask in interviews. Best scenes to film and shit. Although I don't know if they'll take _one time me and my boyfriend_ as a valid answer."  
  
Sokka snorts at that, shifting his hand until he can brush his thumb over the head of Zuko's cock and make him whine. "Good?"  
  
"Mhm. _So_ good. One second-" Zuko stretches and reaches into the top drawer of the dresser, groping around until he finds his prize. "Lemme just warm this up."  
  
Sokka drags his teeth across Zuko's pulse-point, the sharp sting of it jolting his hips back. "What are you planning now, sweetheart?"  
  
"Just because I'm sore doesn't mean you still can't get yourself off without me having to do any of the work," Zuko points out, mostly to make Sokka laugh again, and then squeaks as a nipple is twisted in retaliation.  
  
"Sure thing, baby," Sokka says in his ear, amused. "Hips up, c'mon-" He tugs Zuko's boxers down just enough, leaving them bunched around his thighs, and Zuko makes a truly mortifying little noise at the back of his throat at the feeling of Sokka hard against the back of his thigh a moment later. "You're a mess," Sokka says fondly, patting his arm until Zuko reaches blindly over his shoulder and drops the lube somewhere between them.  
  
"Gonna be even more of a mess after this," Zuko points out, arching obediently as Sokka pokes the small of his back to put him at a better angle. "Haven't put a towel down or anything."  
  
"Fuck it," Sokka says decisively, then murmurs an apology when Zuko squeaks at an uncomfortably chilly lubed hand making contact with his ass. "But seriously. These sheets needed washing anyway, and I've got one of those waterproof protectors under the sheet after too many cereal-in-bed accidents. I'll just roll you out of the wet spot. Neither of us have anywhere we need to be in the morning - so what if we're all gross and sticky when we wake up?"  
  
"Domesticity is turning you into a slob," Zuko decides, but relaxes back against Sokka again, wriggling into a more comfortable position. He'd almost forgotten, before all of this, how good sex could be when he didn't need to put on a show, didn't need to push himself to his limits just because it looked better, didn't need to be someone else. Which, in this case, means that he can tangle their legs together in a way that would normally have someone complaining makes for a bad shot, shifting his weight so Sokka's arm can slot easily under his waist to splay one warm hand across his chest, reaching up to clutch at his wrist as the other arm drapes back over his hip to brush lubed fingers across his cock.  
  
"That's it," Sokka breathes behind him, and curls his fingers into a fist just enough that Zuko has to rock forward in search of friction, and the slide of Sokka against his ass, hot and slick, forces a truly undignified noise out of him.  
  
" _Fuck_ ," Zuko manages, strangled, eyes screwed shut, and does it again, and again-  
  
"There you go," Sokka says in his ear, mouthing at the side of his neck with just a hint of teeth. "That's it, baby, just like that-"  
  
He sounds _way_ too controlled for Zuko's liking, and he lets go of his fistful of sheets to grope behind him and twist his fingers into Sokka's hair, and hisses in satisfaction at the jolt of his hips. And because Sokka is _incapable_ of surrendering the upper hand-  
  
"Good boy," he murmurs, low and amused, and fucking _cackles_ when it punches a disgustingly needy whimper out of Zuko before he can stop himself.  
  
"You're so _mean_ ," Zuko whines, squirming and digging his nails into Sokka's arm. It'll bruise tomorrow, but since when have either of them cared about that?  
  
"I know I am, sweetheart, but you're just so _fun_ to tease." Sokka punctuates it with another roll of his hips, the pressure tantalisingly close to pain with how sore Zuko still feels.  
  
"Well, if _that's_ how you want to play it-"  
  
Zuko appreciates getting to let go and stop the performance, he really does, and he knows Sokka loves his natural responses, but that doesn't mean that he stops enjoying playing into what his partner likes. And Sokka is so, _so_ easy.  
  
An extra twist of his fingers to drag at Sokka's scalp, dropping his head back against his shoulder with a breathless moan, arching his back to grind his ass into the cock twitching against him, relishing the way Sokka's breath catches.  
  
"Zuko-"  
  
"Sokka," he gasps as slick fingers tighten on his cock, and he's only faking it a little bit. Honest. "Sokka, please-" He whines again, strangled and desperate, grinding back against the friction until Sokka's hand tightens again. "Please, _please_ , touch me, I need- _Harder_ -"  
  
" _Fuck_ , Zuko-" Sokka's breath is harsh against the back of his neck, teeth scraping across his spine until Zuko is squirming against him. " _Baby_ -"  
  
"Need more," Zuko mumbles, breathless, hazy, dragging Sokka's head down by his hair until lips meet his collarbone and latch on. "Fuck, _fuck_ , like that, _please_ -"  
  
When he'd been younger, with boyfriends and hook-ups - and, okay, with a girlfriend, but he and Mai had still been figuring out the whole sexual dynamics thing for most of their dating - he'd thought there was something wrong with him, that he got off on pleasing people this much. That it was a hang-up from his fucked-up adolescence, that he poured too much of himself into being what other people needed him to be. It had been messy and stifling and, yeah, not great. For anyone involved. But it makes him fucking _fantastic_ at his job.  
  
And after a break from non-work hook-ups and a bit of therapy, he thinks he's just about managed to strike a balance - because he doesn't need to change anything to be the guy Sokka wants, he doesn't need to keep an ironfisted grip on everything he does in case it looks stupid or needy, he doesn't need to pretend-  
  
But at times like this, his fucking _ridiculous_ praise kink is all twisted up around itself, showing off and begging and whining just to sense Sokka's breathing hitch and feel him shudder against Zuko's back and hear him whisper adoration against his skin, and the knowledge that this is all him, _he's_ doing this, _he's_ got Sokka this close to breaking-  
  
Another frantically needy sound tears itself free from somewhere deep in his throat before he can bite it back, pitching up into a desperate keening whine as he digs his nails into Sokka's hand and shoulder and neck and anywhere else he can reach, writhing in his arms - and fuck, Sokka's _arms_ , Zuko's no weakling but he's absolutely _gone_ for how easily Sokka can cage him in and hold him still and steady like this - and he somehow arches just right and-  
  
The head of Sokka's cock, hot and thick and slick with lube and sweat and pre-cum, catches against his hole and presses just for a moment, almost _almost_ slips into him, and Zuko sobs and convulses and-  
  
He catches his breath as Sokka is still stroking him, slow and gentle, easing him through the aftershocks.  
  
"Fuck, baby," Sokka says into his hair. "You good?"  
  
Zuko makes a vaguely human noise in response. Rational thought is happening again, but words are taking a while to catch up.  
  
"So much for you playing it like that just to fuck with me." Sokka shifts his hand to splay across Zuko's hipbone just as he starts to squirm from overstimulation, holding him still again. "Didn't seem like much of a game."  
  
"Not-" Zuko bites back a whine as Sokka's hips roll down against him. "Not by the end. You know I get off on working you up like that."  
  
"Mm." Sokka's lips trace the shell of his ear, and Zuko shivers and melts back into him. "You do it so good, sweetheart. So _perfect_ for me-" He breaks off to muffle a laugh in soft hair as Zuko's jaw cracks from the force of his yawn. "Okay, baby, I get it. Too sleepy for pillow talk?"  
  
"Too sleepy to _move_ ," Zuko mumbles, everything slow and syrupy and every touch verging on too much yet somehow not enough. It doesn't help that it's dark in Sokka's room with the blinds down, just barely enough light for him to see the contrast of Sokka's skin against his. Blindfolds always heighten everything and this doesn't feel much different.  
  
Sokka hums again, thumb tracing little circles over Zuko's hipbone, and he charitably ignores the fact that Sokka is _definitely_ smearing cum everywhere he touches. "You can go to sleep, sweetheart, it's okay. I'll come back once I’ve cleaned up."  
  
Zuko scowls into the darkness, latching onto Sokka's wrist again. "Don't you _dare_. Want you to get off here, with me."  
  
Sokka's breath is hot on the back of his neck, and he can hear the smirk in his voice. "With you? Or on you?"  
  
He's still being mean, Zuko decides. He's not allowed to exploit his marking kink right after all that praise shit. But- Well. It was good sex, and his brain is mush. And he _did_ just do the same thing to Sokka, with all that pleading.  
  
_Asking nicely_ , Sokka had called it that first time, like he wasn't absolutely gone for Zuko begging to be touched.  
  
"Both." He pulls Sokka's hand up to kiss his knuckles and lace their fingers together. "Just don't expect me to do any of the work."  
  
"Wasn't planning on it, baby. You just lay there and let me get off, yeah? Don't have to lift a finger. Just-" He grinds forward against Zuko's ass with a hiss, arms tightening around him as Zuko automatically arches into it. "Yeah, just like that. Fucking _made_ for me, I swear. Spirits, Zuko-"  
  
He's babbling again, and _fuck_ , Zuko loves it, loves knowing that he's to blame, even if all he's doing is laying here and- Yeah, fine, _okay_ , he's sleep-addled enough at this point to admit that Sokka using his body to get off is hot as fuck. He might have to use his words and actually ask for that to happen properly at some point.  
  
"Feels so good," he breathes, reaching up and wrapping his free hand around the back of Sokka's neck. "Fuck, _Sokka_ -" He whines and squirms away from the overstimulation of a hand sneaking back down to tease at his balls, making Sokka groan at the friction, and Zuko twists just enough to be able to kiss him properly in a clash of lips and teeth. "Gonna blow you in the morning," he says against Sokka's lips, grinding back against him in tight little circles that have him gasping. "You feel so good, _fuck_ , just wanna taste you again-"  
  
Sokka groans and curls in tight around him, hand so tight on Zuko's thigh it's bound to bruise, the roll of his hips stuttering, and- Zuko really shouldn't fucking _whimper_ like that just at the feeling of Sokka's cum across his thighs and ass and the small of his back, he's not even hard anymore and he's too tired to feel really horny right now, but _fuck_.  
  
He'd been unbelievably awkward about explaining this particular _thing_ to Sokka when they'd had this talk outside of a work context - how in Agni's name did you tell a new partner _major turn-on: bruises, scratches and having you cum on me_ without sounding like all the worst stereotypes of adult film? But hey, turns out Sokka likes marking him up just as much as Zuko does, especially when Zuko's working his next gig with Sokka's fingerprints bruised into his hips and thighs. Made for him, indeed.  
  
Yeah, Sokka had _definitely_ known what he was doing when he'd said they weren't going to clean up before going to bed. Sleeping like this is going to feel sticky and itchy and gross, but fuck, he's going to be _so_ turned on when he wakes up in the morning and gets to remember this. Sokka will be getting all the blowjobs his dick desires tomorrow.  
  
He's pretty sure that last bit was out loud, judging by Sokka's amused little hum, but then arms tighten around him. "C'mon. Out of the wet spots." Zuko lets Sokka shift them both over and then turns in his arms, face tucked up against his neck, and can't resist pressing little kisses against his sweat-slick skin.  
  
"Thank you," he breathes into Sokka's throat. "That was what I needed."  
  
"Yeah?" Sokka kisses his temple as he tugs Zuko's boxers back up over his ass and readjusts his own, then pulls Zuko’s tee off over his head entirely and wipes at his belly and back. “This isn’t gonna be as good as a damp cloth, but that’s not what you wanted anyway, was it-“ There’s the rasp of fabric-on-fabric as Zuko huffs out a little breath of laughter, wiping up the worst of the mess from the sheets, then Sokka’s arms are back around him. "Where'd it rank, then?"  
  
"Best," Zuko says decisively, burrowing as close into Sokka as he can manage. "Definitely the best. Even better if you'd let me sleep."  
  
It's been years since he's done this, since he's shared a bed in a way that wasn't just passing out after a drunken hook-up, and he'd forgotten what it was like to lay like this and feel _safe_.  
  
\---  
  
Somewhere in the night, Zuko jerks awake, chest tight, lips parted on a silent scream, and- Not his room. Moonlight streaming from the right and not the left, no glint of swords on the wall, no bookshelf at the end of his bed- But not his childhood room. Not any of the rooms of ill-fated boyfriends or one-night-stands. A wall covered with taped-up printed photos, a constellation of glow-in-the-dark stars above him.  
  
It takes Zuko longer than he'd like to admit to realise that Sokka has rolled over next to him, hand outstretched and hovering just shy of his arm, eyes half-open.  
  
"Zuko?"  
  
"I'm okay," he whispers, digging his fingers into the sheets. "I'm-"  
  
"'s fine if you're not. Can I touch you?" And Zuko must have nodded, because Sokka's fingers are tracing tiny spirals on the inside of his wrist, and-  
  
"More? I mean, heavier?"  
  
"More pressure? Like this?" Sokka shifts his grip, not grabbing but wrapping his fingers around tightly enough to rub a thumb over Zuko's palm. Warm, solid, real. Grounding.  
  
"Yeah. I- Yeah." Zuko squeezes his eyes closed, trying to picture the stars overhead and not the half-remembered flashes of nightmare.  
  
"I know it's dark," Sokka murmurs. "But do you wanna name five things you can see?"  
  
"I know what you're trying to do."  
  
"Let me do it anyway?"  
  
"Window. Photos." Zuko blinks his eyes open again, glancing around from his prone position. He's not having any sort of attack, panic or anxiety or otherwise, but he knows his heart is still racing. Knows Sokka can feel it. "Stars. Boomerang." He moves his hand just enough to be able to twine his fingers with Sokka's and squeeze back, rolling over to look back at him again. "You."  
  
"Ok, sweetheart. That's good, you're doing good." Sokka squeezes back and Zuko gives in and rolls further, face-first into Sokka's broad chest, smushing his nose up against soft cotton and pressing his forehead into his collarbone. "Hug?" Zuko nods against his chest and Sokka's free arm comes down around his back, squeezing tight. "Things you can feel?"  
  
"You," Zuko says again, muffled. "You, you. You again for good measure."  
  
"That's not really the point of the exercise," Sokka says into his hair, but sounds amused. "Do you need to go through the whole list?"  
  
"Can feel sore from yesterday's gig and a wet patch on the sheets and gross dried cum and your abs," Zuko says instead, and manages a private little smile at the rumble of quiet laughter reverberating through his chest. "Can hear-" He strains his ears for a moment. "The cars outside. Rain. Your heartbeat." It picks up pace a little bit at that, just like it always does when Zuko is being sappy. "Can smell sex, mostly. And your shampoo."  
  
Sokka hums, the hand wrapped around his back playing with his hair. "Yeah? And taste?"  
  
Zuko tips his head back and licks a stripe up Sokka's throat as he yelps and says, deadpan, "Sweat."  
  
Sokka grins down at him, eyes still bleary but soft and warm anyways. "It's a _serious grounding technique_ , baby."  
  
"I know," Zuko buries his face back in Sokka's shoulder, their hands trapped between them. "But it was just enough to talk to you. I haven't-" Fuck, _fuck_ , he doesn't have _time_ for this shit-  
  
"Zuko, sweetheart-" There's no way Sokka can't feel the wet patch on his shirt.  
  
"I haven't had someone there after a nightmare for a long time," Zuko mumbles, eyes squeezed shut as though it'll stop the tears that are just _happening_ , what the fuck-  
  
"It's okay, baby. You can cry if you need to, or not. Whatever you need."  
  
"I'm okay. I _am_. This is just-"  
  
"Just happening?"  
  
Zuko nods furiously into Sokka's chest. Fuck, he's going to have a headache in the morning.  
  
"That's okay. Take as long as you need."  
  
As much as he hadn't needed a full grounding talk-through, Sokka's hand in his and the arm around his back and the fingers combing through his hair are...nice. They're _nice_. Zuko's sort of still learning to be used to nice things.  
  
"Sorry," he whispers at last, and Sokka's fingers falter.  
  
"Baby. You don't need to _apologise_. I want to help you, whatever that takes, whatever time of night it is. That's what you do when you love someone."  
  
"I've only _just_ stopped crying," Zuko protests wetly, and Sokka just kisses the top of his head again and briefly extracts his arms from around Zuko to strip his own shirt off then pull him in close again.  
  
"Do you want to talk about it at all?"  
  
"Not much to talk about. I usually can't remember them, not without trying, and then trying usually means flashbacks, so-"  
  
He's told Sokka the broad strokes of, y'know. The trauma. His childhood with Ozai, getting his scar - he's never spelt out exactly how it happened, but Sokka knows that it _did_ \- moving in with Iroh, moving back with Ozai, Azula's psychotic break and long recovery. Ozai being locked away for a long, long time. It's always been enough just to say _he hurt me_. He doesn't really want to talk about specifics, not yet at least, and he certainly doesn't want Sokka to find out about the _specifics_ through nightmares and flashbacks.  
  
"That's okay. Do you want to try to go back to sleep?" At Zuko's nod he rolls onto his back and brings Zuko with him to sprawl across his chest. "There. If you need more grounding just poke me until I'm hugging you properly, yeah?" His arm is still wrapped around him, lying heavily across his back, and it's enough, and Zuko tells him so.  
  
Sokka relaxes back into sleep so quickly that it's like he'd never been awake, and Zuko doesn't expect to follow him so quickly but-  
  
When he blinks his eyes open, it's dawn, soft light just beginning to filter in around the blinds, and he can feel the curve of Sokka's back mirroring his own. He doesn't have to get up; he doesn't need to be anywhere.  
  
Zuko rolls over and tucks himself up against Sokka's back, draping an arm over his waist and hissing softly at the reminder of how the state of things had been left last night. Fuck, he wants to suck Sokka off, especially when he lifts his head to kiss his cheek and sees that he's half-hard in his boxers, but no. Not today. They haven't talked about that sort of thing. _Spirits_ , he wants to wake Sokka up with his tongue one of these days, though.  
  
Instead Zuko nuzzles into the nape of his neck and closes his eyes again. Sokka will probably be awake before too long - he'd been complaining about how Zuko's sleep schedule had fucked with him. They can talk then.  
  
\---  
  
Sokka's voice is just on the edge of hearing, soft and warm and amused, and Zuko instinctively tightens his grip and presses his face into the side of his neck as he feels Sokka shifting away from him.  
  
"Don' get up," he slurs, although whether any of it is intelligible is another question. "'m _warm_."  
  
"One sec," Sokka says, louder and like he's trying not to laugh, then there's a hand stroking his hair and an involuntary little noise that is _definitely not_ anything akin to a purr. "You're a fucking _cat_ ," he says, definitely ignoring Zuko's mental assertion to the contrary. "Hey, baby. You awake?"  
  
Zuko is _not_. "Sort of," he says into Sokka's neck. "Reluctantly."  
  
Lips press against the top of his head for a moment. "Zuko. Sweetheart. No, don't go back to sleep- My dad called. Video. Wanna say hi or shall I hang up?"  
  
Okay, that's- Okay. He's definitely awake now. "On _video_?" he hisses, pulling back to look up at Sokka. "But I-" Sokka's phone is next to the bed, and he lowers his voice. "But we're both _half-naked_ , and I'm still covered in-!"  
  
"I know, I _know_ -" Sokka ducks his head and kisses him. "It was only shoulders up, though. And I did keep you out of it, but you just snuggled back into frame-"  
  
"You were _moving_ ," Zuko says, and tries not to pout. Judging by the way Sokka swoops in for another kiss, he's not succeeding.  
  
"Fuck, you're so cute and cuddly in the morning, that bedhead-"  
  
Zuko just about manages to push Sokka away from kissing his way down the bruises on his throat. "If you keep doing that, I _will_ try to jump you with your dad on the phone."  
  
Sokka just hums, nuzzling into Zuko's hairline. "Yeah, okay. You wanna stay here while I talk to him, or go be all pretty and pouty on the other side of the bed?"  
  
Zuko's been in the same room as Sokka for a few of their calls and has obligingly called out _"Hi, Hakoda,"_ when the phone has been waved in his direction, but he's never actually met the guy. Seen photos, though, and he knows that Sokka has sent his family enough selfies of the two of them for it to be less awkward than an introduction would be from a completely blank slate.  
  
Spirits, he'd really, _really_ hoped that, especially given his job, he'd get to make his first impression clothed. And less _debauched_.  
  
And the dad thing. That's...a _thing_. That he's trying not to think about too much. Still, it's not like he'd ever video-called Ozai, let alone from bed after spending the night with someone, so this feels like enough of a clean break from all of the old dad stuff - and he's still kind of half-asleep, and his brain is all fuzzy from sleep and from getting to wake up beside Sokka, so. It's fine. He'll be _fine_.  
  
He should probably warn Sokka before they ever meet in person, though.  
  
Sokka is still waiting, eyes soft. "No pressure," he says quietly. "Whatever you want."  
  
Zuko realises he's worrying his lower lip between his teeth and instead plasters the most reassuring smile on his face that he can manage. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll stay here."  
  
Sokka's hand lingers on his jaw for a moment longer. "You sure?"  
  
"I'm sure." Zuko leans up and plants a kiss at the corner of Sokka's mouth, just because he can. "We went public last night. It's the least I can do."  
  
"Don't say it like it's an obligation-" Sokka starts, then glances over at his phone. "Oh, yeah. We did, didn't we? Explains all the notifications. Eh, we'll deal with that after." He interlaces his fingers with Zuko's where his arm is still stretched across his chest, then leans down and grabs his phone again. "Hi, dad! Sorry about that, Zuko wasn't awake."  
  
Sokka angles the phone until Zuko can see it, bringing him into frame in the tiny square in the corner. He's seen photos of Sokka's dad, obviously, but he still has to take a moment to force down the little _if Sokka gets those cheekbones as we get older_ \- No. Bad thoughts. It's just general latent horniness mixed with crippling domesticity when he thinks about growing old with Sokka.  
  
He focuses on Sokka's face in the frame instead, looking sickeningly fond as he kisses the top of Zuko's head again then spits out a mouthful of hair, and- Agni above, the dark bruises on his pale neck and shoulder are so, _so_ obvious, even in the miniscule image. Still. It's a thousand times less obscene than whatever Sokka's family will get if they look him up online.  
  
(He knows. He's checked. A lot are artistically posed but very definitely very naked, some Mai's and some from shoots. A whole lot more are in the tiny strappy briefs and jockstraps that Sokka - and apparently a lot of other people - drool over. None of them are things that he wants _his boyfriend's dads_ seeing as their first impressions.)  
  
Hakoda doesn't look too fazed by the reminder of his son's sex life. "Sorry for waking you up and ruining your lie-in, Zuko - Sokka's mentioned how early you usually get up. Can't be a good first impression."  
  
Zuko bites back the _Same_ \- he's awake enough for _some_ self-control - and goes with, "It's fine, sir- Hakoda-" he rapidly amends, because he's been told this before. "It's not a problem. It was Sokka moving that woke me up, not the call."  
  
He fights back the instinctive cringe at telling Sokka's _dad_ that he's done something wrong, why the _fuck_ did he do that, he shouldn't- No. Nope. Sokka's dad isn't like that. He _isn't_. Shut up, brain.  
  
"Of course it was Sokka," Hakoda says with a knowing nod, and there's indignant spluttering over Zuko's head.  
  
"Hey! No! You're not allowed to _gang up on me!_ Dad, I'm rescinding your Zuko access rights, this is _unfair_ -"  
  
Zuko hides a smile in Sokka's shoulder, and- It's _warm_ , okay, and his skin is so fucking _soft_ , and he's still got one arm stretched across Sokka's chest and the other tucked up under his head where he can just about reach the ends of Sokka's loose hair to play with it-  
  
"You staying there, huh?"  
  
"Sorry," Zuko mumbles. "Kinda still waking up." He's glad of it, really. His brain can't focus on being awake and being next to Sokka and father-figure-related-panic all at once, so like this, skin-to-skin, it's about as calm as he thinks he'll get. "You can still talk. I'm listening."  
  
In the end he doesn't have to contribute too much. Sokka's told him enough stories about his home and family that Zuko can ask reasonably coherent questions when Hakoda says something about Kanna - _She's gonna make you call her Gran-Gran_ , Sokka says gleefully when Zuko makes the mistake of saying that whatever she's cooking sounds delicious. _And she's gonna make you eat so much, I swear_ \- and Hakoda's happy enough to accept vaguely muddled answers when he asks about the uncle and tea shop that Sokka has told him about. No other family stuff. Sokka had probably told him about that, too.  
  
Sokka's halfway through an enthusiastic retelling of something Suki had told him about one of her sisters, trying not to hit Zuko in the head with their joined hands, when Hakoda glances off-screen and makes a face. "Ah, shit, sorry, Bato's getting impatient - we've got a lunch reservation."  
  
"I know what Bato's like about getting places early, but-" Sokka squints at his phone. "Huh. Did we _seriously_ sleep in that long?"  
  
"How long?" Zuko leans up to check, twisting awkwardly so his good eye can find the numbers. Oh. That's... Yeah. Huh. He hasn't slept this long in _ever_ , especially not after a nightmare somewhere in the middle.  
  
Sokka pulls their joined hands across to poke him in the ribs. "What happened to _I rise with the sun, I never sleep in past dawn_ , huh?"  
  
Zuko pokes him back, careful not to knock the phone. "I woke up at dawn, I was comfortable and you were asleep, so I went back to sleep again. What happened to _you_ complaining that I ruined your sleep schedule and now you're always waking up before eight?"  
  
Sokka sticks his tongue out at him, but Hakoda cuts them off with a laugh before Zuko can escalate in the way his sleepy-horny brain wants him to, which mostly involves biting it in retaliation.  
  
"Just treat yourselves to a late brunch," he says. "It was good meeting you at last, Zuko - Sokka'll have to have you round for the next family dinner."  
  
Zuko blinks, blind-sided. "Family-?" Sokka doesn't live very near-  
  
"We all make food then have a big group video call over a meal," Sokka tells him, squeezing his hand. "Gran-Gran, my dads, Aang and Katara. Sometimes Suki or one of our other friends calls in. Everyone'll love to see you!"  
  
"That sounds nice," Zuko says quietly, mentally adding _if I feel up to it._ Sokka hums and squeezes his hand again. Yeah, he gets it. He always gets it. "It was good to meet you too, Hakoda."  
  
"Either way," Hakoda says, taking a coat handed to him from off-screen. "You should probably have some food in you before you tackle social media this morning, from what I've seen."  
  
Sokka grimaces. "Worth it, but...That bad? Really?"  
  
"I wouldn't say _bad_ , but-" Hakoda shrugs on his coat. "You know Katara's here for the weekend? We woke up to her phone hitting the door and her yelling about how every single person she's met in the last decade is sending her messages about _why is your brother trending on Screecher and also does he do porn now_ so it sounds like it's going to be a lot."  
  
"Holy _fuck_ ," Sokka says with feeling.  
  
Yeah. That's...a lot. "Sorry," Zuko says, pushing himself up onto one elbow to brush a strand of hair out of Sokka's eyes and kiss him on the cheek, lingering for just a moment. "I should have expected this might happen."  
  
"Hey, none of that. We _both_ knew this might happen. There's a reason we put our phones on silent." Sokka turns his head to catch him in a proper kiss. "We can deal with it. And it's _worth it._ Yeah?"  
  
Part of Zuko is embarrassed that this is happening _right here_ , in front of Sokka's _dad_ , but. Well. The few times he'd tried to date recently, before Sokka, nobody was going to introduce him to their family. No-one was going to kiss him on the forehead and tell him everything was okay. Either they wanted to flaunt him on their arm at clubs, like a _prize_ , or they didn't want to be seen with him at all outside the security of a bedroom, and fuck, he'll take all the embarrassment in the world if it means he'll get to have _this_ -  
  
Hakoda says his farewells, and Sokka promises to check in with the family once he's dealt with the fallout online, and then there's blessed silence aside from the quiet thudding of Sokka's heart against his right cheek, close enough and pitched low enough that he can hear it clearly. Zuko untangles his fingers from Sokka's to trail them along his collarbone and down to tweak one dark nipple and tug lightly at the barbell, grinning at the uptick in his heartrate.  
  
"So," he says, letting go of the not-quite-iron grasp he'd kept over his libido while Hakoda had been on the phone and letting it bubble up in his chest again. Sokka's warmth against his bare skin, how hard he'd been when he'd woken up, the soreness from the day before that's now a pleasant ache-  
  
"So?" Sokka echoes.  
  
Zuko shifts, slotting the leg slung over Sokka's hips between his thighs and grinding down against his stomach for just a moment, then kisses his way down - Sokka's collarbone, his nipple, the dip between each rib, lingering at the waistband of his boxers. He pushes Sokka's thighs apart and wriggles down the bed to nip at the soft skin there, to kiss the surgical scars on his knee, back up until his lips are brushing fabric-  
  
Sokka is squirming beneath his ministrations, muffling little grunts and groans with the heel of his hand shoved in his mouth, his other hand not tangled in Zuko's hair but just lightly brushing against it. When he realises Zuko's paused he lifts his head to grin down at him, flushing dark as Zuko exhales a gust of warm air over where he's half-hard in his boxers.  
  
"Hips," Zuko says, patting one, and tugs the fabric out of the way and tosses it over his shoulder, likely never to be seen again. With one hand braced under Sokka's leg, he can feel the pulse at the back of his knee hammering against his fingertips, picking up as Zuko presses a line of kisses along the crease of his thigh.  
  
He pauses again as Sokka's cock twitches against his cheek, hiding a grin in soft skin and dark curls, then glances up again with the most seductive expression he can muster after years of practice, all half-hooded eyes and bitten lips, and says "Can I blow you?"  
  
It startles a laugh out of Sokka, loud and unabashed, and the warmth in the pit of Zuko's stomach flutters, because _this_ is what sex is supposed to be like, how could he have _forgotten_ -  
  
" _Now_ you're asking?"  
  
Zuko props his chin on Sokka's thigh to pout at him. "I'm being _polite_."  
  
Just to really reinforce it, he ducks his head again to lick a stripe up the side of Sokka's cock, as slow and lascivious and porny as he can manage without bursting out laughing at how ridiculous it probably looks, to be putting on an act like that _here_. Sokka's sheets should definitely have been changed last night, and they both still have _horrendous_ morning breath, and Zuko desperately needs to shower because as hot as being cum-marked is in the moment, it's now gross and itchy.  
  
Sokka laughs again, but it's tempered with a low moan as Zuko swirls his tongue again in just the way he likes it. "Yeah, baby. Fuck yeah, you can blow me. Were you thinking about this the whole time my dad was on the phone?"  
  
"Maybe," Zuko says against the side of his cock, then looks back up the length of Sokka's body. "Hands," he tells him, untangling one from his hair to hold it and reaching up until Sokka takes the other.  
  
"You wanna hold my hands while you're sucking my dick, sweetheart?"  
  
Zuko plants their joined hands on the bed by Sokka's hips, elbows braced against his thighs. "Nope. Just want you to stop covering your mouth and let me hear you properly."  
  
The noise Sokka makes as he finally wraps his lips fully around him makes it well worth this being the sloppiest blowjob he's probably ever given in his private life.  
  
\---  
  
It's not a traditional brunch, but it's the afternoon by the time they peel themselves out of bed and into the shower - one by one, because Sokka's shower is nowhere near as spacious as the ones Zuko's used for shower sex shoots, and he's tried showering together in a normal bathroom once and _never again_ \- and so Sokka reheats fried rice from two nights before and Zuko roots through his freezer until he comes up with ice cream and a frozen fruit pie apparently left there by Aang.  
  
After the rice, as Zuko is debating whether to scoop ice cream into their bowls or just cut the carton in half, Sokka re-enters his field of vision with a phone in each hand.  
  
"Game plan," he says very seriously, and Zuko tries to look like he's paying attention. "We do this _while_ we're eating ice cream, because we deserve it. Check out reactions, give it a couple of minutes to see if we can be bothered to read any more, then make a note of the more common messages or questions so we can agree on responses."  
  
Zuko leans across the counter to plant a kiss square on his lips. "Plan guy. My hero."  
  
"Aw, babe- Shit, your hair!"  
  
By the time Zuko's wiped the ice cream off the ends of his hair and found a scrunchie Katara had apparently abandoned down the side of the sofa to tie it up, Sokka's twirling a spoon between his fingers.  
  
"Piandao seemed nice," he says suddenly. "As your first director, I mean."  
  
"Mm. Where's this coming from?"  
  
"I don't know, I was just thinking- Tui and La, nineteen feels young to be getting into the industry. I was the same age when I was camming, and hell, Suki was doing the same shit you were at the same age, but talking about it with other people-"  
  
"Feels different?" Zuko almost points out that Sokka had told him he'd started camming at _eighteen_ , actually, which was younger than Zuko, then remembers his time modelling for Mai and takes it back. They were both eighteen, then. Whatever.  
  
"Yeah, I guess. Feels like a long time ago."  
  
Zuko hums again, scraping a scoop of ice cream into Sokka's bowl. "Well, Piandao was nice. It was a good choice, going with him."  
  
There must be _something_ in his tone, because Sokka squints at him.  
  
"Okay, what are you not telling me about him? He's practically promised to sign me up to work with you, so I feel like I need to know-"  
  
"Nothing that's going to affect you!" Zuko says hastily. "It's not, it's just-" Fuck, he'd been able to go _so long_ without having to remember that day. "Kinda hits different when you go to visit your uncle and he's sat playing pai sho with the guy who'd been teaching you to suck dick on camera the day before."  
  
Sokka's expression is one of blank horror. Yeah, that's about right.  
  
"He didn't know," Zuko hastens to add. "I was using my normal name back then, my mother's, not my actual family name that I use now for film and that Uncle uses, and... I guess he didn't realise? But he _definitely_ didn't know. I saw his face when Uncle called me his nephew. He definitely had no idea that-"  
  
"-that he'd been watching the nephew of his friend fuck on camera the day before?" Sokka is speaking through his fingers, one hand splayed out across his face as though it can shield him from the crippling second-hand embarrassment.  
  
"Mhm. No idea. One of his _oldest_ friends, too. He's known Uncle since they were our age, or younger." He shrugs, pushing Sokka's bowl across to him. "Still. Could have been worse. Uncle knew what Piandao's job is, and he knew about the work I did for Mai and that I'd decided to go into film-" -and Agni above, hadn't _that_ been an awkward conversation, but it had definitely been necessary so he could keep working at the tea shop despite the possibility of being recognised. "-so he figured out what had happened pretty quickly. He offered to stop inviting Piandao round, but in the end I just told him I wanted warning in advance."  
  
Sokka hums, going back to his ice cream. "Still. _Fuck_. Is that better or worse than Katara walking in on me? Because I remember saying at the time that I'd rather it be Katara than Gran-Gran."  
  
"Uncle didn't actually _see_ anything," Zuko points out. "Thank the spirits. I'd have died. I would be _dead_. You would never have met me. Combusted on the spot." He slides his own phone across to himself and skids Sokka's over to him until it clinks against his bowl. "Point being, if I can handle that I can handle the judgement of strangers online. C'mon."  
  
It's. Um. Not as bad as he'd expected?  
  
Already having the regular trolls blocked probably helped, but even so.  
  
_holy shit bro is that @sozinzukoxxx??_  
  
_uh yeah why the fuck else would he have tagged him_  
  
Quite a few along those lines, actually. Of the scenes he and Sokka have filmed together under June, a solid half-dozen have been released so far, one every couple of weeks - mostly shorter and more low-key than their initial shoot - so people have probably seen them together. There's a link he'd posted to their newest video on the BSS site if they just scrolled down a day or so.  
  
And, yeah, there's clearly some people who had recognised the pattern.  
  
_If this is why Zuko's been releasing so many things with @boomerangboy recently then I am so fucking here for it_  
  
"Action point one," Zuko says, waiting until Sokka glances up. "You're changing your handle."  
  
Sokka pouts at him. "Aw, c'mon. I've had that one for years."  
  
"Yeah, I know, you told me it was your cam account name too - which, also, you gave it the same name as your _personal_ Screecher account? That's terrible planning."  
  
"Absolutely shit," Sokka agreed cheerfully. "Although in my defence I wasn't expecting either of these things to still be hanging around in my life years later. What should I change it to, just my name?"  
  
"Yeah, probably. Makes you easier to find, if you're planning to stick around and make a living from it. Although, uh, maybe start contracting other work under a different name, I guess?"  
  
"I'll figure it out," Sokka says flippantly, but obediently writes down the first action point in the notebook he'd brought over with their phones.  
  
_oma's left tit this is the cutest shit i have ever seen_  
  
_no wonder they work so well together?? should have guessed_  
  
_Ikr? Does this mean the interview first time video was fake tho, I thought bss claimed all those were legit and not staged_  
  
Another action point: clarify timings. June won’t want the rumours of inauthenticity.  
  
_Want to be the meat in THAT sandwich_  
  
_dont we all_  
  
_Girl they do gay movies_  
  
_theyre both bi, dont crush my dreams lee_  
  
It's not all sweetness and light, and Zuko would never have expected it to be - although his fanbase is generally pretty nice, and he's blocked the repeated offenders, any post getting this much interaction is going to pick up some unwanted stragglers.  
  
_why the fuck is someone that hot settling for some dude with-_  
  
Nope, okay, block. He's got a blanket ban on scar talk - and someone has already replied to the guy in question warning him to delete it if he doesn't want to get blocked by everyone in the industry who knows Zuko, so he's had his chance. The solid handful of replies calling him out on his shit is nice to see as well.  
  
_ugh really? sokka isnt even that good, why isnt @sozinzukoxxx with ron jon or something_  
  
_tui and la im dying you say this shit and you cant even spell @ruonjian name right_  
  
_Tf? @boomerangboy is great, just because you can't appreciate a good soft dom doesn't mean Zuko should be with some fuckboy_  
  
The conversation looks like it goes on, and Zuko's seen enough of it - but he hasn't talked with Sokka yet about how to handle shitty comments. He blocks the ones about himself, but they'll need to sort out a system.  
  
And then, the other most common response.  
  
_@sozinzukoxxx you seriously quitting over some guy?_  
  
and  
  
_wait does this mean zuko isn't doing anything else? or that neither of them are? hope not, they're my faves_  
  
and  
  
_@boomerangboy man you can't quit now when you've just gotten started_  
  
and-  
  
"Action point-" Sokka starts, and Zuko glances across at the notebook.  
  
"Tell people we're not quitting our jobs just because we're dating?"  
  
"Ha. Yeah. Seeing the same shit I am?"  
  
"Probably." Zuko flicks across to his photos and starts scrolling. "People are being pretty nice, though, that I've seen."  
  
Sokka hums. "I've already blocked the people being dicks to you- Don't look at me like _that_ , sweetheart. Of course I did."  
  
Zuko ducks his head to hide how sappy his smile probably is. "D'you want me to block the people insulting you? None of it is _really_ bad, but-"  
  
"I'll put _sorting out a blocklist_ down as something to do. Figure out where I draw the line. But first-"  
  
"Already on it." Zuko flips his phone around to show Sokka. "I was thinking of posting this with a _no, we're not quitting_ disclaimer."  
  
It had been one of the first shoots they'd done together after telling June about their relationship; Zuko had been laid on his front on the bed in a loose robe, propped up on his elbows and checking his eyeliner in his front camera, when Sokka had launched himself onto the bed to sprawl on top of him and kiss him stupid, and somewhere in all that mess was _this_ as Zuko had hit the screen accidentally. Sokka in the photo is just in boxers, although all it shows is his bare chest and arms where he's tackling Zuko to the bed to press a kiss to his cheek, catching him unawares and wide-eyed. And then the next photo, on purpose this time - Zuko turning his head to catch him in a proper kiss, smiling through it, Sokka blushing dark. There's a full camera-and-lighting rig in the background, clearly on a set.  
  
It is, if Zuko says so himself, _adorable_.  
  
And makes it very clear that neither of them are quitting their jobs.  
  
Naturally, it takes the rest of dessert until he's decided on a caption.  
  
_Thanks everyone for your kind words - @boomerangboy and I started dating after a few shoots and have been together for a few months now, and we thought it was time to go public. And no, I'm not quitting the industry just because I'm in a committed relationship, and neither is Sokka_.  
  
"Aw, baby, you're committed to me?"  
  
"Shut up."  
  
Sokka follows it up a moment later with a cheerful _we'll be keeping an eye on responses and maybe answering some questions over the next couple of days! and friendly reminder that if ur a dick to me or zuko, you WILL be getting blocked by both of us <3_  
  
"Is that necessary?"  
  
"Tui and _La_ , yes. You're not seeing the worst of it because people are apparently being nice enough when it's a public profile, and I know you've got your private messages locked down, but I haven't - I know, I need to - and some people are being _dicks_."  
  
"You should probably tell Katara and your dads to do the same, at least for a little while." At Sokka's questioning noise around a mouthful of pie, he clarifies. "When people figured out I was related to the owner of the Jasmine Dragon chain, a certain type of person clearly thought I needed public shaming from my uncle. Kept sending screenshots and thumbnails to the Dragon's accounts, and they couldn't close messages because of customers." Zuko grimaces. "I owed Jin a lot of favours for dealing with that so Uncle didn't have to. She has a list of how many times she's had to see my ass versus how many of her shifts I've covered for free."  
  
"Knew I loved that girl," Sokka says distractedly, thumbs flying across his phone, and Zuko leans over the counter to read.  
  
_zuko says u need to lock down ur accounts unless u want to see my dick  
people sent shit to his uncle when he got famous so  
soz  
should die down eventually_  
  
Katara's long string of nauseated emojis comes through almost immediately.  
  
_T+L Sokka wtf why would you tell me that  
  
for ur own safety  
ud be madder if i didnt warn you and it happened  
  
Bato's crying with laughter in the middle of a nice restaurant, well done  
  
dads pls lock down ur accounts  
there are things i never want you to see  
pls  
PLS  
if you see anything with zuko hes gonna disappear and never show up to a family dinner as long as we live  
its for all our sakes  
  
Spirits Sokka we get it  
What do you want me to say to people asking if it's you  
There's literally people we knew from school messaging me about this  
  
you can tell them  
dont care  
also im not trending unless you already follow adult topics so if people see it u know why  
_  
Zuko flicks idly through his mentions again.  
  
"Hey, did you notice this? There's like, two- Three? More? People with accounts literally dedicated to us now."  
  
Sokka practically bounces out of his seat. "We have _fanclubs_?"  
  
"Apparently. And there's a name for us, now." Zuko pauses in his scrolling, thumb hovering over one account that has posted a screencap from their first shoot together - Zuko straddling Sokka's lap, head tilted to kiss him as Sokka's hands slide up the back of his shirt. "Do you think we should interact with them? Would it get weird?"  
  
"If it gets weird we can deal with it," Sokka says, draping himself over Zuko's back to look at his phone. "And I think interacting with nice comments is gonna prompt more of them, so go for it."  
  
The caption on the screencap is _this was the softest sluttiest video ever, how is anyone surprised by the zukka news_ , and Zuko hesitates for a moment longer before commenting on it.  
  
_Love this photo - and this really was the first time we'd ever met! The shoot was a genuine interview for Sokka, not faked. We went on our first date that evening._  
  
"Too much information?"  
  
"Just enough. It's _sweet_." Sokka kisses the side of his head. "Almost as sweet as your baffling insistence on using proper spelling and grammar in messages."  
  
"It's what my phone automatically does, Sokka."  
  
"You've got to override it for the _aesthetic_ , baby."  
  
Zuko snaps a photo while Sokka is still pressing little kisses into his hair, eyes closed, and then another as he rests his elbow on the counter and wraps a hand around the back of Sokka's neck, turning his head and leaning up to catch him in a full kiss.  
  
"Fucking _insatiable_ ," Sokka mumbles against his lips, then grins when he sees the phone. "More photos?"  
  
"Maybe I want to show off my hot boyfriend- Ah, shit, I accidentally took a video instead, must have knocked the screen-"  
  
A handful of seconds long, Zuko's eyes softening and crinkling into a smile as he pulls Sokka down with a hand on the nape of his neck and kisses him.  
  
"Post it," Sokka chants quietly in his ear. "Post it, post it-"  
  
Zuko sends it to him. " _You_ post it. Please be sensible with the caption."  
  
_u lot have no idea how excited i am to be able to post pictures of zuko ALL DAY, ur in for it now_  
  
Zuko rolls his eyes at him, but starts clearing the bowls into the sink anyway. "Hey, you still okay to drive me into town after this?"  
  
"Hm? Yeah, sure. Where are you going?"  
  
Zuko drops a drive-by kiss on the nape of Sokka's neck on his way past. "To get a new key cut."  
  
\---  
  
Zuko squints at himself in the mirror, fluffing his hair so the strands falling out of the ponytail and into his eyes are artfully dishevelled and not just messy. That's for later, once it's been grabbed a bit. Sleeves rolled up on the button-down, obviously, and the one gold stud Piandao had allowed him to keep glinting in the cartilage of his undamaged ear. Yeah, looking good. And - he turns, glancing back over his shoulder - yeah, these jeans are doing some _fantastic_ things for his ass. Perfect.  
  
There's a rap on the door, and Sokka's voice filters through, low and amused. "You done admiring yourself in there?"  
  
"I was just checking a few things," Zuko protests, pushing the door open and stopping dead at Sokka's grin. "What?"  
  
"Can we keep the glasses?" Sokka flicks the bridge of them, avoiding the lenses. "Fuck, you make a cute nerd."  
  
Zuko gives him a once-over. "Can we _not_ keep the cap?" He goes to flick it around forward, and Sokka immediately reverses it again.  
  
"Hey, none of that. It's got to stay backwards, Piandao said."  
  
"Part of your persona?"  
  
"Yup. Jock Sokka. Jockka."  
  
Zuko groans, flopping back onto the couch by the wall. "Please never say that again, or I _will_ throttle you mid-scene."  
  
"Ooh, kinky." Sokka's smile is bright as he drops down next to him and kisses his cheek, being performatively careful not to disturb his hair. "Honestly, that would be so sexy. Can we?"  
  
Zuko blinks up at him, trying to get used to the slightly warped vision of non-prescription glasses. "What, as a couple or in a shoot?"  
  
"Either? Both?"  
  
Zuko brushes his fingers along Sokka's throat, just to see him gulp, then snorts. "Not sure if it'll happen in a shoot, gonna be honest. Sometimes I can get a bit bossy, like today, but... I've got a niche, you know? People expect what they expect. And I'm good at it, so."  
  
" _So_ good at it," Sokka agrees. "Award-winning, even!" He ploughs straight past Zuko's quiet noise of complaint. "But c'mon, you're hot when you're domming me. Like, _so_ hot. Unbelievably hot. You're telling me no-one's tried to get that on camera?"  
  
"Nope." Zuko shrugs. "It's fine. I'm good at playing the bratty sub-" He very definitely does not hear Sokka's mumbled _that's because you actually are a brat_. "-and people aren't going to change a formula that works. And that makes them money. And that makes _me_ money."  
  
Sokka hums, toying with the edge of his cap. "Okay, let's try another angle - what if _I_ want to sub to you on camera? Would you do it for me, baby?"  
  
Zuko sighs dramatically, but leans in for a lingering kiss, and murmurs against Sokka's lips, "Fine. I'll talk to Piandao once he's decided if he's keeping you on." When he pulls back, Sokka's pouting.  
  
" _If?_ "  
  
"You've got to prove you can do what you're told, first. I thought you said you _wanted_ to be bossed around?" He grins at Sokka's put-out expression, then glances across at a slightly altered commotion in the room. "Looks like we're up."  
  
Piandao's direction is his standard spiel.  
  
"Feel free to ad-lib to an extent, but if you throw the script out the window entirely, my husband will throw _you_ out the window. He's the editor. Don't test him. I'll stop you if I think you're getting too far from the original vision, and I _will_ be asking for reshoots if I need to. Sokka, since it's your first shoot here, I'll need to go over a few things."  
  
Zuko takes the opportunity to turn to the young woman fidgeting next to him. Ayame, he thinks he remembers the paperwork saying. "Not your first time working with Piandao, then?" He recognises the way she's twisting her fingers, the same way as he'd recognised Sokka's nerves that first time and had sat him down and offered him tea.  
  
"No, but it's my first time doing...this bit. If that makes sense? I'm just a...not a _normal_ actress. A standard actress?"  
  
"A non-adult actress?" Zuko offers.  
  
"Yeah, I guess. Studios like this offer pretty high rates, so I do the non-sexy stuff, like the beginning of this one." She flashes him a slightly awkward smile. "But the, uh, the end of this one. That's going to be new territory."  
  
"If it helps, you can tell yourself that me and Sokka are acting too?" Zuko offers. But, yeah, going from brief appearances here and there in a shoot to actually being part of a scene with sex involved - even if she isn't one of the people _physically_ involved - will probably feel weird.  
  
Ayame laughs. "I'll figure it out. Oh, and I saw the news from a couple of weeks ago - congratulations to you and Sokka. Feels a bit weird knowing that I'll be making out with your actual boyfriend, though."  
  
Zuko waves a dismissive hand, glancing over at Sokka and taking a moment to admire the jersey-and-sweatpants combo from behind. They're not keeping the cap, but he might ask if they can keep the jockstrap. "It's fine. I've literally watched him fucking other guys - although I guess kissing can hit different, sometimes. Still. Nothing I haven't seen before."  
  
He takes another second to weigh up Ayame as she looks back over her copy of the script. About the same age as him and Sokka, and almost certainly cast _before_ he'd threatened Jeong Jeong into tweaking the script into its current roommate form instead of the thoroughly vetoed sister version. Zuko's put aside a lot of vaguely squicky things for his job, but he's apparently drawing the line at any sort of scene that involves someone _playing his sister_ and then making out with Sokka, not least because it would absolutely _ruin_ his carefully negotiated truce with Azula if she found out about it.  
  
Sokka's return from his chat with Piandao - which has about a 50:50 chance of also being a shovel-talk, given how Piandao has kind of ended up being a makeshift uncle-figure as well as a professional mentor - takes him by surprise, arms sliding around his waist and lips pressed to the crown of his head.  
  
"Hey, baby. Ready to get started?"  
  
"I'm not getting started for a while," Zuko points out, turning in the circle of his arms and rolling his eyes at how Sokka has pulled him close enough that his nose is brushing the hollow of his throat. " _You_ , on the other hand, need to get ready to go make out with a pretty girl."  
  
He can feel Sokka's grin against his temple. "What if I want to make out with my pretty boyfriend instead?"  
  
"I'm right here," Ayame says, sounding amused. "And you only need to kiss me for, like, five minutes. Promise. Then you get your boyfriend all to yourself again."  
  
Sokka makes a few vague noises of complaint but lets go of Zuko in favour of wandering over to what has the dubious honour of being this set's sex couch, chatting with Ayame and clearly trying to put her at ease. Before he can get on with kicking this thing off, Zuko catches Piandao on his way past with a hand on his arm, shifting closer.  
  
"Hey. Just...go easy on him, okay? Play nice. He's not showing it, but he's kind of freaking out."  
  
Piandao's arched brow is, as always, irritatingly sardonic. "When do I _not_ play nice, Zuko?"  
  
He gives a flat look in response. "Don't make me answer that."  
  
"I only refuse to _play nice_ when someone should know better. Your toy boy is safe from me."  
  
"There is a _one year_ age difference," Zuko grumbles, but heads over to the fake wall and doorway anyway to linger out of sight.  
  
In the centre of the room, Sokka drops down onto the couch and pats his lap cheerfully for Ayame to settle astride him, arranging her skirt to not flash anything - which, reasonable. It's not like most people will be watching this movie for the sole woman in it. Piandao looks them over critically.  
  
"Make sure you're comfortable with one another, that's good- A hand in his hair works, yes. Be careful not to pull it loose entirely, that's for Zuko later."  
  
"Thanks for thinking of me," Zuko drawls from the doorway, just to see the almost indiscernible tension in Sokka's shoulders relax slightly. Yeah, he's here, he's waiting, and Sokka is going to get him in just a few minutes.  
  
"Zuko, shush," Piandao tells him without ceremony, and the face he knows he makes has Sokka hiding a grin behind Ayame's dark hair. "Sokka, I need you taking up more of the couch. Arm out along the back, knees wider. You're not a small guy, you know how to take up space. Good. Alright, let's go."  
  
As predicted, seeing Sokka enthusiastically make out with someone - in a way that's clearly designed to show _girlfriend_ and not just _sexy hook-up_ \- does set something churning in the pit of his stomach, but-  
  
Zuko settles one hand casually on the opposite hip, digging his thumb into one of the bruises Sokka's hands had left the night before last. They've spent every night since that first in the same bed, these last couple of weeks, and it's been fucking _delightful_ , and somehow the reality of Sokka choosing _him_ \- when he could have his pick of the industry, when he could have his pick of _anyone_ \- is only really hitting him now. He doesn't feel threatened by some pretty girl, no matter how nice and personable she is, he really doesn't, but he wants Sokka's hands back on _him_ and soon, thank you very much.  
  
Sokka's hand creeps up the hem of Ayame's skirt as she moans, soft and breathy, and on the edge of hearing Piandao says _three, two, one_ -  
  
The alarm sounds, quiet enough that Jeong Jeong will be able to dub it over with a proper one in editing, and Ayame pulls back from the kiss, looking suitably rumpled and flustered, and Zuko mouths along with the lines of the script.  
  
"Shit, that's my alarm-" She pulls a phone out of her pocket, and somewhere in the room a tech shuts off the sound effect. "I'm gonna be late for class if I don't leave now."  
  
"You can't just leave me like this-" Sokka starts, sounding suitably pained, and leans forward to chase her lips as she slips down off his lap and toes on her shoes. "C'mon, babe, you can leave in a bit, or you can skip class-"  
  
"Sorry," she calls over her shoulder, already headed for the door that leads to the fake corridor. "But my roommate is in - he can lock up behind you if you let yourself out!"  
  
The romance in the make-out session might have been fake, but the results certainly aren't. Zuko lingers in the doorway designated as the one leading to 'his' room and waits for Piandao's signal, already half-hard at how Sokka drops his head back against the couch and groans, slides one hand down over the front of his sweatpants and cups himself, curls his fingers to outline his cock against the fabric- Yeah, there's a reason he cammed, and there's a reason June has had him doing solo work.  
  
Spirits, he looks good. Zuko's mouth is _definitely not_ watering.  
  
Piandao catches his eye and there's a camera swung around to be on him, so it's time. He steps fully behind the doorframe, waits a beat - the magic of editing - and then steps out and saunters across to the couch, not bothering to hide how his eyes rake over Sokka's body. They've never done this - this _seduction_ thing - besides Zuko fucking around to wind him up, and he's fairly sure that it's fifty-fifty on whether Sokka's going to be absolutely _gone_ for it or whether he'll crack up laughing.  
  
For now, the odds seem to be leaning towards the former as Zuko sinks down onto the couch and shifts to face him, drawing one knee up and onto the cushions. Sokka looks nonchalant enough, but Zuko knows his tells, and- Spirits, they have to stick to the _script_ , when all he wants is to swing one leg over Sokka's hips to straddle him and get fucked into oblivion.  
  
"Got left high and dry, huh?" he says instead, letting his gaze linger for just a moment before Sokka shifts and covers himself with one hand. He slings one arm over the back of the couch, parallel with Sokka's, hand almost brushing his elbow, and smugly watches goosebumps prickle across dark skin where his sleeves are pushed up.  
  
"Yeah, I- She had somewhere to be." Sokka's voice almost catches, but he stops watching Zuko and instead relaxes back against the couch and flexes his arms just enough that bare skin barely grazes Zuko's fingertips.  
  
Zuko swallows through a suddenly dry mouth. So _that's_ how they're playing this, is it? Trying to keep on-track and on-script whilst slowly driving one another mad? Spirits, Piandao is going to be _so done_ with them both by the end of this shoot, but he can't bring himself to care.  
  
Still, the script today gives Zuko the upper hand - is _designed_ for Zuko to have the upper hand. He's the one who gets to push and push and wait for Sokka to snap. Although _snap_ in this case is less about waiting for lust to get the better of him and more about seeing how long it'll be before Sokka fails to keep up the façade of not caring.  
  
Sokka's back on script again, very subtly smug about rattling Zuko. "Yeah, she just upped and left, bro, who does that-"  
  
Zuko bites the inside of his cheek hard enough to taste blood. He's done this shit before, he knows that a mainstay of fake-straight-guy movies is obscene overuse of _bro, man_ and _dude_ , but hearing it from _Sokka_ of all people is unexpectedly hilarious.  
  
He hums sympathetically instead, resisting the urge to stretch a handful of inches further to flatten his hand against Sokka's shoulder, press him back against the couch-  
  
No. He's going to _behave_. For now. Just as long as he needs to.  
  
"So what are you gonna do now?" Glances down at how Sokka's jersey is riding up over his hip and stomach to show an expanse of dark skin that he _really_ wants to lick, lets his eyes linger on the tent in his sweatpants. "She'll be back in, what, an hour or two?"  
  
Zuko shifts minutely closer, fingertips skating along Sokka's arm and up beneath his sleeve for a moment before he settles his arm back against the couch, watching a muscle in Sokka's jaw twitch. Despite not getting to fuck his very attractive apparently-jock boyfriend how he wants just yet, the nice thing about this script is that he gets to indulge his libido as much as he likes, so long as he doesn't take it that last step.  
  
"Can't afford to hang around here waiting for her to get back," Sokka says, sounding impressively unruffled despite Zuko _seeing_ his pulse hammer along the veins in his throat. "I don't know, buddy, I guess I'll-"  
  
"Sokka."  
  
Sokka's head snaps up, looking at Piandao, and Zuko drops the pretence and presses his hand fully against Sokka's arm, steady, reassuring. "Yeah?"  
  
Piandao's arms are folded, and he looks suitably unimpressed, despite a clear undercurrent of amusement. "Sokka, you can't say 'buddy' in the _exact_ same tone you used to say 'baby' not half an hour ago."  
  
"Sorry. Shit, sorry."  
  
Across the room, Ayame has a hand pressed to her mouth to stifle a laugh, and Zuko gives in and leans into Sokka's shoulder to tuck a grin and a handful of kisses into the side of his neck.  
  
"It's fine," he says, pulling back and pressing one last kiss to Sokka's cheek. "This happens, with scripts. Just because June lets us fuck around and do whatever doesn't mean you can do that here, but stopping and correcting isn't bad. That's why there's all these cameras - so we don't have to cut every time we make a little fuck-up. Yeah? We just carry on."  
  
"Thanks, sweetheart," Sokka murmurs, turning his head to kiss Zuko again, and Piandao pointedly clears his throat. "Sorry. I'll, uh. Pick up where I left off?"  
  
"One last thing, before you do," Piandao requests. "Sokka - I need you to be playing _straight_. As stereotypical as you like, but really emphasise it."  
  
"I went public about my relationship with a guy, like, two weeks ago," Sokka protests. "No-one's going to believe _that_."  
  
Zuko snorts, prodding him in the ribs. "Babe, no-one's watching porn for _believability_. It doesn't matter. Just...act as grossly stereotypically straight as you can. The backwards cap and sweatpants will do the rest of the job, I promise."  
  
"What he said." Piandao waves a dismissive hand. "So long as people can suspend their disbelief, I'm happy. That suspension, however, does not include the fact that you look sickeningly in love with Zuko at any given moment. Get _some_ control over it, please."  
  
"I haven't spoken to a straight man in, like, five years," Sokka protests through a laugh and an unfairly endearing blush, and Zuko realises that completely without meaning to, he's much closer to being tucked up under Sokka's arm than he'd ever intended to be.  
  
Piandao definitely catches the way he carefully scoots backwards to a safe distance and rolls his eyes, and Zuko pointedly ignores him to pat Sokka on the knee instead.  
  
"Legs wider," he tells him. "No, seriously, wider. You're on public transport and you don't want anyone sitting next to you _or_ across from you. Spread out. Take up space. Sokka, you are _tall_. Use it."  
  
"That's not playing straight, that's playing _Toph_."  
  
"Sokka, _please_ don't talk about childhood friends when I'm about to suck your dick." Zuko takes a moment to consider. "But you know what, if that's the butch energy you have to channel to pull off flawless straight dude vibes, go for it."  
  
Sokka makes a face at him but shifts, sets his feet on the floor and resettles his arm along the back of the couch, and-  
  
"That's the one," Piandao says. "Alright, that was all, if you think you've got a handle on the sappiness."  
  
"Sokka is _so_ sappy," Zuko agrees, and dodges the hand flapped in his general direction. "Ok, you've got the vibes, can we get back to me seducing you now?" He drops his voice on the last few words, shifts to lean towards Sokka and sucks his lower lip between his teeth, glances up through messy strands of loose hair.  
  
"Fuck," Sokka laughs breathlessly. "Shit, you're ridiculous sometimes. Yeah, we can get back to that."  
  
"Zuko, are you _trying_ to distract him? Both of you get back to it and _properly_ , please."  
  
Zuko mentally runs back through the script until he reaches the point at which they left off. Okay, it was that bit.  
  
"Blah, whatever, things, stuff - okay." He shifts back into that lower register, leaning hard into the rasp and gravel that he's pretty sure comes from long teenage years of screaming as his sole form of communication. "She'll be back in an hour or so, right?"  
  
"Don't fancy hanging around here waiting for her," Sokka says, then clearly immediately fears he's ad-libbed too far from the script. A reasonable concern. Jeong Jeong, the person in Piandao's team who usually writes the scripts, is truly terrifying when he wants to be. "I don't know, buddy, I guess I'll just head home."  
  
"What, like this?" Zuko lets amusement bleed into his voice, fingers skating up Sokka's arm and not quite bracing himself on his shoulder, dipping a teasing hand tantalisingly close to where Sokka is half-hard in his sweatpants. "You're gonna walk home like _this?_ "  
  
Sokka audibly swallows, throat bobbing, and Zuko tilts his head and bites his lip and thinks about dragging his teeth across the soft skin of his neck, and knows it's going to come across on camera just how he wants.  
  
"Well, I- She doesn't like me jacking off in her bathroom. So. Uh-"  
  
"Yeah? That's rough, _buddy_." Zuko smirks, finally shifting close enough to drag fingertips up the inside of Sokka's thigh, all the way from his knee up to- And then sliding off to the side at the last minute, feeling Sokka tense and then sag in anticipation and disappointment. "That's real rough," he murmurs, brushing his fingers along the strip of bare skin at Sokka's waistband. "But you know, there's all sorts of ways to deal with... _inconveniences_..." He leans close enough that his next exhale tickles the loose strands of hair at Sokka's temple, and slides his palm up over tense abs, resisting the urge to play with a nipple ring on the way - not the right vibe for today, at least not just yet - and then drags a lazy hand back down.  
  
Sokka is practically _vibrating_ under his touch. "What are you- I don't-" He hisses through his teeth as Zuko, just for a moment, scrapes his nails across his hipbone. "Fuck. Fuck, I'll get back on track in a moment, but- _Shit_. Pretending to be _reluctant_ to have you suck me off is, like, the most difficult thing I've literally ever had to do in this job, I swear."  
  
"The _hardest_ thing, more like," Zuko mumbles, and it's worth it for the way Sokka has to muffle a snort behind his hand. "Ok, get back on it or you're _not_ having me suck you off. Or I'll be, like, _bad_ at it. On purpose."  
  
"Baby, it is _physically impossible_ for you to be bad at sucking dick, I swear. Okay. Okay, we're fine, we're good."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Zuko hums, dipping a teasing finger below Sokka's waistband for just a moment. "You don't have to act _reluctant_. Just maybe don't look so..." He searches for the right word. "So emotional about it. So _tender_. Y'know?"  
  
"I'll be sure to have an acceptably straight level of excitement about getting my dick sucked by a pretty boy," Sokka says dryly, settling back against the couch.  
  
"Please try," Zuko agrees, pinching his hip, then settles a hand back on his thigh. "Go on. Fairly sure we were at the _mild confusion being overpowered by horniness_ stage." He leans closer again, shamelessly raking his eyes down the length of Sokka's body until his gaze meets where he's slowly trailing his fingers up the inside of his thigh.  
  
Sokka's knees fall further apart, and he's not sure whether the way his hips twitch upward towards Zuko's hand is acting or genuine desperation. Either way, it's _delicious_.  
  
"Bro, what are you doing?" Sokka asks, voice hoarse, and Zuko curls his fingers into the neck of his jersey and resists the urge to kiss the bare skin it reveals. It's second only to the urge to start laughing at Sokka calling him _bro_ again.  
  
"Just relax," he murmurs, finally wrapping his fingers around Sokka through his sweatpants and smirking at the way he groans. "Don't try to lie to me. I can feel how much your cock wants this."  
  
Ah yes, the second mainstay of scripted porn: unnecessary overuse of the word _cock_. Whatever, it's sort of fun to say - and no matter how cheesy it sounds, it clearly rolls off the tongue well enough that Sokka twitches in his hand.  
  
Although that might just be because it's Zuko saying it.  
  
He squeezes lightly until Sokka's hand clutches at his shoulder, breath coming harsh, then shifts to push the fabric down and out of the way and to pull him free from the jockstrap.  
  
"Fuck," Sokka mumbles, hand tightening on Zuko's arm, and he shifts to plant one knee more firmly on the couch and leans down, allowing himself the luxury of one lingering kiss to Sokka's hip before taking him fully into his mouth. " _Fuck!_ " Sokka says again, more sharply, and Zuko doesn't bother fighting the gag reflex as his hips jolt up, cock hitting the back of his throat. He knows how to do this, and he knows how to make it look _good_.  
  
Zuko settles himself more comfortably until he's half-sat and half-knelt, and Sokka's hand slides heavy down the arch of his spine until he can squeeze his ass. Zuko moans, muffled, and there's a vague noise of frustration from above his head.  
  
"I shouldn't- We shouldn't be doing this, bro-"  
  
Zuko pulls up with one last hard suck at the head, smirking at how it makes Sokka muffle a curse into his fist, and-  
  
Okay. Okay, fuck it. Sokka might be unsure of how much ad-libbing he can get away with, but Zuko's played this game before. So long as he hits the same beats, Piandao lets him get away with a certain amount. And this might be pushing it, but-  
  
He hasn't done more than a bit of mild brattiness on camera in a long while. Time to see if he can still pull it off when it's not just him and Sokka recreationally.  
  
"Oh, I'll stop if you _really_ want me to. Just takes a few little words, y'know?" His hand, still moving, adds a little twist just the way Sokka likes it, drawing another groan out of him. "C'mon, I'll even guide you through it." Zuko lets the mocking tone slip into his voice, lips brushing Sokka's skin. "It's easy. Just say _no, I don't want you to suck me off_ -" Sokka's hand, scrabbling for purchase on his back as he swirls his tongue again, anchors in his hair. "Or maybe _no, I don't want to fuck your throat until you choke on it_ -" Sokka makes a strangled, frantic noise above him, and Zuko meets his eyes as he slips down off the couch. "Or even _no, I don't want you on your knees for me_ -"  
  
He pushes his thighs open and holds them there, pinning him to the couch as he settles on his knees and ducks his head, lips spit-slick and barely parted as he exhales warm air and watches Sokka's cock twitch.  
  
"What?" he says, low and amused and so hard it hurts from the look in Sokka's wide eyes. "Don't you want to say it?"  
  
Sokka's hand is painfully tight in his hair, but he's mute as he stares down at Zuko, and so he keeps the eye contact steady as he licks his palm and wraps his hand back around him and strokes slowly.  
  
"We shouldn't-" Sokka says again, voice hoarse, and Zuko pins his hips down again as he swipes his thumb across the head and makes Sokka's breath catch.  
  
"No," he agrees. "We shouldn't. But-" He takes Sokka all the way down until his nose grazes the soft fabric of the jersey, tugging against the hand in his hair, and holds there for a moment before pulling back and wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. "But I haven't heard you telling me to stop."  
  
He could have played this whole concept out with any random guy, and it would have been _fine_ , but there's something delightfully fun about getting to tease _Sokka_ like this.  
  
He lingers, lips parted around the head of Sokka's cock, resisting the urge to move until-  
  
" _Fuck_ ," Sokka spits, hand twisting in his hair, and then Zuko's head is being pushed down until he gags on it. "Fuck, _fine_ -"  
  
There it is. Breaking point. Well, almost. Still, he concentrates on relaxing his throat loose and open for a minute or two, letting Sokka have his fill and then-  
  
Zuko turns his head to one side, cock slipping free to slide against his cheek, and Sokka's hand tightens in his hair again.  
  
"Hey, man, what are you-"  
  
Zuko twists the hand free and presses both of Sokka's wrists down into the couch, smirking at the way his breath catches, knowing he must look an absolute fucked-out mess right now and knowing that Sokka _loves_ it.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," he drawls, tracing his tongue along a vein just to watch Sokka shiver. "Exactly _who_ did you think was in charge here, again?"  
  
This is _so_ fucking off-script, honestly, but it's vaguely on-topic, so probably forgivable.  
  
And it's _hot_ , so.  
  
(If Piandao agrees - and he hasn't stopped them yet, after a good few years Zuko knows he's earned his trust and a bit of leniency - then Sokka's wish of getting shamelessly dommed on camera is probably going to come true sooner rather than later.)  
  
"You?" Sokka hedges after a second, and Zuko deepthroats him for a moment or two in reward. Never let it be said that he's not a benevolent dom on the occasions that he takes the role, even if the aim of today is for Sokka to, at some point, wrest back control and fuck him into the mattress.  
  
Zuko is having _such_ a good time right now, and he is going to carefully ignore the fact that Piandao is possibly glaring daggers at the back of his head.  
  
"Yeah," he murmurs instead. "That's the one."  
  
He releases Sokka's wrists again and lets him weave one hand into his hair, then crawls up into Sokka's lap to roll their hips together. The rasp of the denim on his bare cock is probably _unbearable_ , but Sokka just groans and goes easily when Zuko tangles his own fingers into his wolftail and tugs his head back.  
  
"Oh, come on," Zuko taunts him with another sinuous roll of his hips, dragging out the friction. "Didn't anyone ever teach you about _reciprocity?_ "  
  
Sokka's fingers fumble at the buttons of his shirt until he finally just rips them open, and Zuko lets it hang half-off his shoulders as Sokka works open the button on his jeans and tugs down the zipper.  
  
"Remember you're _playing straight_ ," Zuko mumbles in his ear, soft enough that he doesn't think the mics pushed uncomfortably close will overhear. He _really_ doesn't want them to completely lose momentum when he's having this much fun. "Remember your first time with a guy?"  
  
Sokka hums, cutting into a groan as he loses the friction, Zuko slipping down off his lap to sprawl back against the couch again - there was _no_ way to get a good camera angle from up there - but he shifts to wrap a hand around him, and glances up as Zuko watches through half-hooded eyes.  
  
"How do I-" he starts, sounding suitably shaky.  
  
"Just like you would on yourself," Zuko says. "Oh, don't worry, I'm not telling you to suck me off." Then, as Sokka's hand begins to move and he relaxes back against the couch with a hum, he adds, "Yet."  
  
Sokka's hand falters at that, but he picks up the pace again and Zuko relaxes into it, biting back a whine and fighting the instinct to curl into Sokka and kiss him. Instead he gets his own hand back on Sokka, matching the pace, closing his eyes against the lights and cameras and people watching, mentally counting down - he's got a good grasp on how long is too long for something like this.  
  
Sokka's lips brush his jaw, light, hesitant, murmuring "Is this okay?" and Zuko tilts his head back until Sokka's breath is hot on his throat.  
  
"Mm. Very okay." He blinks open his eyes again, taking in Sokka's dark flush and the sheen of sweat and the way his gaze darts down as Zuko bites his lip. "So," he says, making the executive decision to keep this shit moving and threading his free hand into Sokka's hair. "Any of your girlfriends ever let you do anal?"  
  
Sokka's eyes widen, pupils blown out with lust, and Zuko just has time to think _fuck, I hope there's a camera getting that-_  
  
And then his mouth is on Zuko's throat, pressing him back into the couch, and Zuko whines and clutches at him and fights against his jeans to get one thigh hooked up over Sokka's hip for the friction and-  
  
"Alright, cut there."  
  
Sokka's hand stops moving but his lips are still pressed to the side of Zuko's neck, panting hard as he catches his breath, and Zuko brushes a thumb over his nape with the hand still tangled in his hair.  
  
"Zuko," Piandao says, and _oh_ , yeah, here comes the reckoning. Thank the spirits Jeong Jeong isn't here right now. He's gone rogue on one of JJ's scripts before, in his presence, and he's not sure he would survive the crippling existential dread of facing him down in-person again.  
  
From a bare inch away, Sokka makes a slightly frantic face at him, and Zuko tries to look reassuring. It's not like he's going to lose his job over this or anything, and Sokka won't either, but he's not sure Sokka knows that.  
  
"Yeah?" he says instead, all faux-innocence, extracting himself from Sokka enough to be able to see Piandao and tucking himself back into his boxers for the conversation.  
  
Piandao levels a flat look at him. "Did you by some chance have a different script to everyone else in here?"  
  
Across the room, behind Piandao, Ayame grimaces and he's fairly sure Sokka is doing the same.  
  
"I know," Zuko says, dropping the act. "But it wasn't such a major ad-lib as to _completely_ take it off-topic, right? And it just... _worked_. With what was happening." Logical arguments. He can do logic, right? Even if his brain is just a little bit mush and he needs Sokka's teeth back at his throat _right now this fucking second_ \- "We'd already had to break twice to get back on track because Sokka is less used to scripting - it made sense for me to take the lead more, and it's not so out of line with the script that it's going to fuck up the rest of the shoot."  
  
Zuko mentally runs over the script. Yeah, they've hit the main beats. They'd always intended for the dialogue to shift to Zuko teasing, then on his knees, then to Sokka touching him- And really, the whole concept of _gay guy seducing a straight jock_ is not exactly new or innovative, sorry to say, JJ. Maybe he wanted to have a bit of fun with it.  
  
Piandao is actually looking reasonably convinced by this line of argument, which is nice. "Well, you're not wrong that it went more smoothly once you took the reins - although it would be vastly preferable if you _asked_ next time, Zuko."  
  
"Sorry. Kind of spur of the moment."  
  
The eyeroll cuts to the bone, but it's a better let-down than he'd have got from Jeong Jeong. "Don't do it again."  
  
The shoot moves to the bedroom - actually manually moves to the bedroom set, because this place doesn't have two interconnected sets for them to move seamlessly between - and Piandao runs through what he wants. Again. Pointedly. Looking Zuko dead in the eye.  
  
Agni above, if he cared that much he should have stopped Zuko as soon as he started deviating from the script, shouldn't he?  
  
"Sokka took control at the end of the last part, so we're sticking with that line of things. Don't flip the script again, Zuko, at least not more than temporarily - you know the beats I want you to be hitting."  
  
"It's not like there's much script at this point anyway," Zuko feels the need to say. "I mean, besides coordinating how it's going to go. It should be easy enough."  
  
"There wasn't much script besides _begin blowjob_ either, and yet," Piandao notes, and Zuko tries very hard not to make a face. He's not _wrong_. "Start with coming in through the door, and you know the bare bones of where I need you to go from there. Zuko, you can take the lead occasionally where you feel it makes sense," he allows after a second. "But never for long. We want Sokka in control."  
  
Sokka's lips brush his temple for a moment, arms looping around him from behind. "Ready to get thrown against a wall, sweetheart?"  
  
"Like you even need to ask."  
  
The cameras roll.  
  
Zuko hits the door chest-first, punching a gasp out of him as it slams shut, only Sokka's hand in his hair and dragging his head back saving him from hitting it _face_ -first. Anyone else he'd have kicked off, but Sokka knows his limits better than anyone by now, and getting thrown around by Sokka is _fun_.  
  
His other hand is shoved down the front of Zuko's jeans again, and the growl against his throat reverberates through him and makes him whine. Zuko pushes his jeans down off his hips the best he can when he's pinned between Sokka and a door and rocks back against him - flagging after all the talking but rapidly getting close to being ready again - and flashes back for a moment to the same position in Sokka's bed a couple of weeks ago.  
  
That had been performative for their own sakes. _This_ , though-  
  
"Fuck," he moans, arching into the scrape of Sokka's teeth and letting his torn-open shirt slip down off his shoulders. "Fuck, you're so _big_ -" Another roll of his hips, sinuous, and Sokka's hand wraps around his throat as the other works his jeans and boxers down and _fuck_ , there's something good about feeling Sokka fully clothed against his bare skin. "C'mon, fuck me, you're gonna feel so good-"  
  
Sokka's hand tightens on his throat, just for the look of the thing - it's not _actually_ cutting anything off - and his hand slows until Zuko is forced to rock up against him in search of friction. " _Now_ who's in charge, hm?"  
  
Curse Piandao for telling Sokka to take control, and curse Zuko-from-half-an-hour-ago for teaching Sokka that ad-libbing was not only okay but _welcome_.  
  
Zuko bites his lip, Sokka's grip pulling him up onto his toes and arching him back in a way that's definitely not sustainable long-term but probably looks hot as fuck - and Sokka must think he's taking too long to respond, because the hand on his dick pulls away altogether, making him whine and try to follow.  
  
"I'll let you be in charge if you fuck me," he manages, and there's an amused little huff of breath in his ear as Sokka lowers him back to his feet properly.  
  
They end up on the bed, and Zuko steadfastly ignores the way someone behind him is getting _way_ too up in his personal space with a fucking light as he settles on hands and knees, reeling Sokka in to stand in front of him with one hand hooked behind his thigh. Sokka steps out of his sweatpants but keeps the jersey and jockstrap, which is honestly a _delightful_ combination.  
  
"I gotta prep-" he murmurs, which, well, not really, but there's no such thing as _too much_ prep. And he knows how good he can make it look for that damn cameraman behind him who is _really_ throwing him off his stride, holy fuck, why can't he move back a few paces. "-but can I..?"  
  
Sokka's cock nudges his parted lips, and Zuko opens his mouth, slipping a couple of fingers in alongside to slick them up and moaning as the sight makes Sokka's hand twist tightly in his hair. He reaches around behind himself to work in first one finger, then another, and he hasn't done anything with more than one guy in a while but _spirits_ , he wants to be filled properly. He groans in frustration, muffled, as he presses in a third finger and rocks back against his hand, silently wishing for something more satisfying. Maybe he can get Sokka to do this again in their own time with a dildo or something-  
  
Sokka gets one knee up onto the bed, shifting the angle, and Zuko follows and drops to lean on his elbow instead, humming with satisfaction around Sokka's cock as the new angle lets his fingers sink deeper. And ugh, fine, he _guesses_ this has to look good as well, so he spreads his knees wider to brace as Sokka hits the back of his throat, and arches his back as he twists his fingers, and- Forcing his spine to this angle isn't the most comfortable, but he knows that it's going to give a certain someone the best view in the house.  
  
"Fuck," Sokka groans above him, and Zuko hums amusedly around him. "Tui and _La_ , you look so fucking good, swe-"  
  
Zuko rolls his eyes and pokes Sokka's thigh, pulling off for just long enough to say "Don't you fucking _dare_ start sweet-talking me now."  
  
"Sorry, sorry-"  
  
Zuko presses his forehead to Sokka's hip and hides a smile against his skin, hand stilling for a moment. "Tell you what. The fewer times we have to stop because you're calling me pet names, the harder I'll try to convince Piandao about that scene you want."  
  
Sokka snorts and pushes his head back down, and Zuko takes it as a done deal and goes willingly, but he's being pulled back by his hair again before he can really get going.  
  
Zuko pouts up at him, hand faltering again then- Oh. _Yes_. Two of Sokka's fingers, longer and broader than his own, force their way into his mouth, then a third, and Zuko meets his eyes as he hollows his cheeks and sucks enthusiastically to wet them, preening a little bit at the way it makes Sokka's eyes darken with lust.  
  
Spirits, he looks like he wants to eat Zuko _alive_.  
  
"Look so fucking good with something to suck on," Sokka growls, and Zuko whimpers and pushes himself forward to gag on his fingers. "Yeah, that's it. Such a good little cocksucker for me."  
  
Zuko can _hear_ him biting back the instinctive _baby_ at the end of everything he says, but he knows Sokka's tells better than anyone and it's unlikely anyone else will notice, so he curls his fingers to hit his prostate and moans again, staring pleadingly up at Sokka.  
  
Sokka's fingers pull out with a pop and a hand on the back of his neck presses him down onto the bed. Zuko whines and wriggles a little bit as Sokka takes his wrist and pulls his fingers free, grabbing his ass with both hands to spread him. He presses his cheek into the mattress, toes curling, and makes a frankly obscene noise as Sokka leans over and spits and rubs it across his entrance with one thumb.  
  
"There you go," Sokka says, spreading him wide again with his thumbs, and Zuko grips the bedsheets and clenches deliberately again, hearing Sokka make a quiet noise of appreciation above him. "That tight little hole ready to be fucked?" He presses two fingers up into him easily, scissoring him open, and Zuko bites his lip and whimpers obligingly, face pressed into the covers.  
  
Wait, this is almost the perfect opportunity-  
  
Zuko pushes up onto his elbows again and mouths his way up the inside of Sokka's thigh, reaching around with one hand to grab his ass and hold him steady - fuck, he loves Sokka's butt, it's unbelievably fun to grab - and takes him back into his mouth as three fingers pick up the pace.  
  
"So _desperate_ , holy fuck-" Sokka manages, tangling his free hand back into Zuko's hair and somehow managing to keep a steady rhythm with both hips and hand. "If I'd known my girlfriend was rooming with such a fucking cockslut I'd have been doing this months ago-"  
  
Oh, good, he's apparently doing a better job than Zuko is at remembering the script. That's okay. Zuko's mouth is otherwise occupied right now; he doesn't need to remember his lines.  
  
"So fucking tight," Sokka is rambling, and then he's pulling his fingers free and wiping them on the sheets - gross but fair, there's probably a lot of residual lube on them - and then there's a lot of tangled limbs until Sokka is sprawled out against the pillows with Zuko in his lap again.  
  
Zuko braces one hand on Sokka's shoulder, fisted into his jersey, and reaches down with the other, rising up onto his knees, and-  
  
"Sokka?"  
  
He jolts, clearly startled. "That's not in the script, sweetheart. What's the forfeit for _you_ messing up?"  
  
Zuko rolls his eyes, reaching up to frame his face with both hands. "Sokka. Darling. Sunshine. Light of my life."  
  
"Yeah, baby?"  
  
"Stop looking at me like you want to kiss me and start looking like you want to fuck me."  
  
Sokka laughs, taking a moment to nuzzle into his hair. "Got the prettiest thing I've ever seen in my lap, how could I not want to kiss you?"  
  
Zuko sighs dramatically, shifting slightly until he can slide the head of Sokka's painfully hard cock up over his skin, rubbing lightly over his entrance, but rises back up out of reach as Sokka's hips jolt upwards.  
  
"Nope. No getting to fuck until you get that look off your face. You can kiss me stupid later."  
  
Sokka looks over Zuko's shoulder, back out at the room. "Can't I kiss him stupid _now?_ "  
  
"If it was anyone else," Piandao says. "I'd say yes. But you two are _far_ too much in the honeymoon phase to get away with it. You can at the end, once one or both of you have finished."  
  
"There," Zuko tells him. "The sooner you get on with it, the sooner you can kiss me."  
  
"Aww, sweetheart, you can't be mean to me when we're in our _honeymoon phase_ -"  
  
Zuko groans and flops back against the bed, calves still wedged under him and head dropping back against Sokka's shin, and glares up at Piandao where he's stood near the opposite wall. "That one's _your_ fault."  
  
Piandao tells them to get on with it.  
  
Zuko settles himself back astride Sokka's lap, elbow on his shoulder and hand tangled into his hair. "If you can't trust yourself not to get sappy," he says. "Just keep your eyes closed. If you need to. At least at the beginning."  
  
Sokka does, in the end, at least while Zuko sinks down onto him and bottoms out with a low moan, and as he starts to move Sokka's hands clutch at his hips, tight enough to leave fresh bruises over the faded ones.  
  
"So fucking _tight_ ," he hisses, planting his feet on the bed to fuck up into him, and Zuko braces himself on Sokka's chest and concentrates on not being a complete hypocrite in how sappily he's staring down at him. "La, you feel so fucking good, look so hot like that-"  
  
When he opens his eyes again they're bright with hunger, with only a trace of the tenderness that had made Zuko call a pause a handful minutes ago, and he moans and digs his nails into the back of Sokka's neck.  
  
"C'mon," he whines, bratty in the way that he knows always wants to make Sokka fuck him senseless. This being work sex and not recreational sex doesn't mean that he doesn't want it to be at least a _little_ bit organic.  
  
And fun. Can't forget fun.  
  
"Fuck, you're so deep but- _Ah_ \- But I've heard you fucking your girl, c'mon, I know how good you can make it-" He throws his head back on the next hard thrust, breath punched out of him. His hips are already aching - Sokka needs to hurry this along. Zuko drops his head forward again, hands braced on Sokka's chest, sneaking a tweak of a nipple ring through the fabric of his jersey. "Unless she was faking all that screaming I've heard?"  
  
Sokka's eyes darken, and then Zuko's back is hitting the mattress and one leg is getting hauled up over Sokka's shoulder and then _oh fuck_ -  
  
He can't let himself slip, not at work, not unless they've planned for it. Not even with Sokka. But it would be so, _so_ easy to let himself go under, nothing but sensation and touch and the coiling of heat deep in his stomach and Sokka growling _You fucking like that? Is this what you wanted?_ against his throat-  
  
"Yes," he manages, clutching at skin and hair and fabric and not even sure if it's his or Sokka's or bedsheets or clothes, almost lost in the storm of sensation. "Yes, _yes, fuck_ , so good, please-"  
  
"That's it," Sokka groans. "Fuck, come on, beg for it. Let me hear you."  
  
Zuko reaches for his voice like a lifeline, and then his wrists are pinned to the bed above his head as Sokka picks up the pace which is _not fucking helping_ \- He's not going to go down, he is a fucking _professional_ , but tonight Sokka had better fuck him senseless and let him _be_ senseless.  
  
"Please please _please_ -" he whines, squirming under Sokka's weight and pulling at the grip on his wrists. "I need to cum, I'm gonna- _Please_ , want to touch you-"  
  
Sokka shifts and Zuko's eyes flutter open for a moment to see him sitting back on his heels, dragging Zuko's hips up into his lap so he can keep up the pace, and then one of his hands is being released so Sokka can reach down between them. There's only one reasonable place for his free hand to go, really, and Sokka groans as Zuko grabs his ass hard enough to bruise.  
  
It is, he thinks with the tiny part of his brain that's capable of being rational, Sokka's own fault for insisting that he keep the jockstrap on for the whole shoot because it makes his butt look good. He's right, it does.  
  
"How long have you wanted this, then?" Sokka says, keeping up the fucking _script_ like he's not got Zuko so close to the edge he's about to shatter. "Huh? How long have you been getting off to thinking about this?"  
  
"Fuck," Zuko gasps, and Sokka's hand slows when it's not the answer he's looking for. "Fuck, _please_ \- Since, since the beginning- Since the first time you walked in-" He whimpers as Sokka's hand starts moving again, the other still pinning one wrist to the bed by his head. "I need to cum," he pleads, twisting under his weight. "I'm so close, I- _Please_ -"  
  
"You're gonna cum for me?"  
  
Zuko isn't entirely sure that the sound tearing itself free from his throat is _human_.  
  
Sokka's leaning over him, filling his vision, hair hanging loose around them, and as their eyes lock he grins, wide and bright and _disgustingly_ tender, and Zuko is so close, he's so close it hurts, he just needs- _something_ -  
  
"Cum for me, sweetheart," Sokka breathes against his cheek, and Zuko fucking _snaps_.  
  
Sokka kisses him through it in a clash of lips and teeth and holding him down until he stills, head dropping back against the sheets, _aching_. He's pretty sure he's pulled a muscle in his stomach, and the thigh that had been slung over Sokka's shoulder doesn't feel too great either.  
  
"Timeout," Sokka says from somewhere very far away. "Give him a breather. Fuck, baby, you okay? All good?"  
  
Zuko uncurls a shaking hand from the bedsheets, no longer pinned down, and unfolds his thumb. A hand catches it, and a moment later soft lips touch the pad.  
  
"Gonna need more than that, I'm afraid."  
  
It takes a moment to remember how words work. "'m fine. 'm good. I- You _broke_ me. _Again_."  
  
"Is that a good thing?"  
  
Zuko makes a quiet sound of assent and peels his eyes open. Sokka's propped up on his elbow next to him, stroking a hand over the length of his hair spread out across the sheets, and he brightens as he meets Zuko's eyes and swoops in for another kiss.  
  
"There you are! Good to see you again, buddy."  
  
"You're still saying it like you mean _baby_ ," Zuko mumbles.  
  
"Because I _do_ mean baby." A kiss to his forehead, nose, each cheek, his lips. "Hate to bother you when you look like you'd rather just fall asleep, but we've got some things to finish off."  
  
"You."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I've got _you_ to finish off." Zuko accepts the hand to pull him until he's sitting up and rolls out the ache in his shoulders. "Just, uh. Give me a minute to get-" He waves a vague hand. "To get my brain in order again. I'm good to keep going."  
  
"Take your time-" And, yeah. Turns out it's very easy to forget that there's Piandao and a handful of crew right _there_ when Sokka's just fucked his brains out. He manages not to look too startled, he thinks. He hopes. "I haven't seen it take you that way before."  
  
"What, the...I don't know. Brief black-out?” Zuko wrinkles his nose. “Yeah. Happens, sometimes. Sokka’s _good_.”  
  
"Thought I'd fucked up, that first time," Sokka says, rubbing his thumbs into the muscle of Zuko's shoulders. "Thought I might have broken you in a _bad_ way."  
  
"Mm. No. That was more the side effect of three orgasms in half an hour." Spirits, that first time had been mindblowing, not least because of how completely _unexpected_ it had been. "This last month or so, it's just you being very good at knowing what I need. And getting a lot of practice."  
  
Zuko shifts on the bed, leaning up into Sokka's space again and wincing at how he's _definitely_ strained something in his thigh. He kisses Sokka again anyway, sliding one hand down to tease at his flagging erection.  
  
"Sorry to keep you waiting," he mumbles, nipping at the shell of his ear, taking a moment to just breathe him in before having to admit that the rest of the world exists again. "Wanna go from where we left off?"  
  
Back on his back, Sokka's hand locked around his wrist again, although he hooks his thigh up over his hip rather than push it and fuck it up even more. Sokka slides home again with a quiet noise of satisfaction, forehead pressed to Zuko's.  
  
"Still _twitching_ , holy shit" he says, pushing Zuko's hair back off his face, and there's something tender in the touch but he's back to open lust in his voice and face, back on track. "You gonna let me cum in that tight fucking hole of yours?"  
  
" _Please_ ," Zuko breathes, and opens his mouth greedily as Sokka's free hand swipes cum off his stomach and smears it across his lower lip. He sucks Sokka's thumb between his lips, nipping at the pad, and lets himself go all languid and sloppy as the roll of Sokka's hips picks up pace, arching into it and pressing his heels into the small of his broad back.  
  
His brain is mostly back online now, or at least enough to mentally run through what's left to do while he moans around Sokka's fingers and- Spirits, he's getting hard again, and Sokka's clearly noticed too, and _oh, for fuck's sake_. If the second orgasm undoubtedly getting fucked out of him is going to be anything like the first, then Sokka had better be ready to carry him back to the car, and that's not even counting the pick-up shots they're supposed to be doing after this.  
  
Still, he likes to think they've kept this whole thing _fairly_ put-together, so once they've done this last part - Ayame as Sokka's girlfriend, walking in on him fucking her roommate right as he finishes, just for all the folks watching who _really_ get off on the forbidden straight guy thing - there shouldn't be anything too difficult.  
  
Sokka flipping him facedown and dragging his hips up to fuck back into him, so much like the first time they'd done this, punches a whine out of him, and Zuko makes the executive decision to turn his brain back offline and to just enjoy the ride. It's not like he's got anything fancy to do besides be generally bratty and get fucked. He can do that without brainpower. He does that _all the time_ -  
  
Zuko yelps, off-balance, and Sokka steadies him with one hand at his hip and the other flat against his chest as he presses back up into him, pulling Zuko back and down against his chest.  
  
_Oh_. Oh, this is _new_ , they haven't fucked like this-  
  
He’s almost in Sokka’s lap, back plastered against his broad chest and pulled flush against him, his thighs straddling Sokka’s own with an arm around his waist keeping him from pitching forward. Sokka braces his knees further apart for balance, pushing Zuko's own thighs obscenely wide as his knees slip on the sheets, forcing his weight down onto Sokka's cock as his hips snap up and punch a whine out of Zuko.  
  
"That's it," Sokka says, voice low and dangerous in his ear, and Zuko scrabbles for solid ground, twisting to be able to tangle a hand into Sokka's hair behind him. "Fuck, like that-"  
  
Sokka hisses at the pull on his hair, and the hand flattened against Zuko's chest slides upward, slipping against the sweat that had pooled along the lines of muscle as he'd been sprawled on his back, and wraps around his throat. Zuko whimpers at the weight of his fingers, head falling back against Sokka's shoulder and his free hand clutching frantically at Sokka's wrist - not trying to pull it away, but he needs something, he needs an _anchor_ -  
  
"You're gonna take it for me? You gonna be a good boy and take my cock?" Sokka punctuates the words with thrusts that Zuko swears are splitting him open. "Of course you are, not like you can do anything else, and you're such a fucking _cockslut_ you wouldn't want to anyway-"  
  
The sounds tumbling from Zuko's lips are barely words, barely even pleas, and he can't drive his hips down into Sokka's to change the pace even when this angle has him inching closer to cumming untouched with every thrust, he can't fucking _move_ -  
  
" _There_ ," he manages on one particularly forceful snap of Sokka's hips, the arm pinning him in place pulling him back against the sweat-soaked fabric of the jersey. "Please, like that, _please_ -"  
  
Sokka growls against his nape, hand tightening on his throat - although nowhere near his windpipe or any blood vessels - as Zuko claws at his arm. "You cumming on my cock again? You like it that fucking much? Not even _touching_ you-"  
  
"'m close," Zuko whines. Sokka can read between the lines, he knows what to do. "I'm close, I'm so- _Fuck_ -"  
  
Sokka's arm tenses under his fingers, hips jolting out of rhythm. Zuko isn't the only one who's on the edge.  
  
"Please, fuck, _please_ ," he whimpers, because Sokka is easy as _fuck_ and begging pushes him like nothing else. "Please, need your cum-"  
  
And, oh, yeah, this bit of the scene is when-  
  
The door-to-nowhere opposite slams open, and there's a startled shriek, and Zuko forces himself to lift his head and meet Ayame's wide eyes across the room - and he lets slip the last fragile remnants of his control and feels Sokka follow, teeth sinking into the meat of his shoulder to muffle his shout.  
  
There’s no blackout this time, too focused on controlling timings to have been able to let go like that, but it means Sokka doesn't need to call a timeout as he releases Zuko and lets him collapse forward to hands and knees, panting for breath, and scrambles to his feet, tucking his still-half-hard dick away.  
  
The last few lines of the script are playing themselves out over Zuko's head and he rolls onto his back, deliciously fucked-out, to watch through half-lidded eyes as Ayame storms out, playing the jilted girlfriend to the last. Sokka starts after her, and Zuko reaches out one lazy hand as he passes and hooks a couple of fingers under the elastic of his jockstrap, reeling him back in.  
  
Sokka pauses, glancing between him and the door, doing reasonably well at playing someone torn between two choices, and Zuko raises an upside-down eyebrow and slides his hand around to cup him through the fabric, and Sokka lets out a deep shuddering breath and steps back toward the bed, and-  
  
"Cut."  
  
Sokka immediately calls it quits on his still-trembling legs and collapses face-first into the bed, and Zuko reaches over to start detangling his loose hair with the hand that's not currently covered in cum. Sokka wriggles closer and presses his face into Zuko's neck, and he pats the back of his head.  
  
"Sit up. Towel coming." He doesn't, and Zuko takes it from the assistant with a nod of thanks and drops it onto Sokka's head instead. "Oh, come on. You're not the one who just came twice in less than, like, fifteen minutes."  
  
"You _always_ do this shit, though," Sokka complains. "I've never had to finish and then _keep acting_. It's gonna take some getting used to." Still, he rolls over and sits up to wipe himself down, making a quietly excited noise at the fact that Shu Jing heats their towels.  
  
Zuko reaches out and takes the robe offered to him, and- Oh.  
  
"Hey," he says rapidly covering himself like Ayame hasn't just spent the best part of an hour seeing him naked and literally watching him cum. _Twice_. "How did you find the shoot?"  
  
"Pretty good." She grins as Zuko sits up to finish tying the robe. "I see what people mean when they say you two have chemistry on-camera."  
  
"And only about half of it is fake," Zuko agrees, and yelps as Sokka pokes him in the ribs.  
  
"Exaggerated. Not _fake_. Did we make it weird? It was probably kind of weird."  
  
"Making it weird is kind of the name of the game, I think," Ayame notes. "At least for people who aren't used to it. Anyway, I've got to head off now, but it was good working with you! Still not into guys, but I guess I can see the appeal."  
  
She flicks them a casual salute as she leaves, probably to finish sorting more paperwork, but there's only a moment's break before he has to confront the _real_ concern here.  
  
"Not exactly to plan," Zuko admits before Piandao has a chance to speak. "But it wasn't _bad_ , right?"  
  
"No," Piandao allows. "Not bad at all. It all worked out in the end - although you're damn lucky it did. It's just around lunchtime now-"  
  
"Time for a nap?" Sokka says hopefully.  
  
"Actually, I was going to say you could probably both head off," Piandao says. "Normally I'd have a list of pick-up shots, but since you both went rather _dramatically_ off-script in places-" Zuko winces. "-I'll let Jeong Jeong see what we have, and he'll let you know if you need to come back in to reshoot anything. He'll probably say you do, but that's for another day."  
  
"His husband sounds scary," Sokka mumbles, and Zuko hums in assent as he stands and stretches and heads towards the showers, Sokka following.  
  
"He is. But that was hot as fuck, so Piandao won't let us get in _too_ much trouble."  
  
Sokka laughs and launches himself forward just enough to drape himself over Zuko's shoulders, making him stumble mid-step. "It _was_ hot, wasn't it? Hot enough for Piandao to think about letting you dom on camera?"  
  
Zuko hums, pretending to consider it. "Maybe. If I set a few ground rules with him."  
  
"Oh, yeah?"  
  
"Mm. I'd have to promise you'd be gagged the whole time, though."  
  
Sokka's indignation lasts the whole way through the shower, all the way home, and at least halfway through Zuko's conciliatory blowjob.

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of the bad porn dialogue and tropes were crowdsourced - you all know who you are, and you might see lines you recognise! Couldn't have done it without you <3  
>   
> Huge thanks to [sorryimabitanxious](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sorryimabitanxious/pseuds/sorryimabitanxious) for offering to beta at short notice when I was freaking out about this being too rambly, only to be confronted with a 101-page Google Doc. You are so massively appreciated for your services, you have no idea.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Not to Plan those Couch Cuddles](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29614326) by [sorryimabitanxious](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sorryimabitanxious/pseuds/sorryimabitanxious)




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